Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, bordering the Caspian Sea to the west, Iran and Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the north-east, and Kazakhstan to the north-west. It is the southernmost republic of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the loose federation created at the end of 1991 by most of the Post-Soviet states. The geographic coordinates are between 35°08' and 42°48' north latitude, 52°27' and 66°41' east longitude. Its longest border is with the Caspian Sea (1,786 km (1,110 mi)). The other borders are with Iran (to the south, 992 km (616 mi)), Afghanistan (to the south, 744 km (462 mi)), Uzbekistan (to the north and east, 1,621 km (1,007 mi)) and Kazakhstan (to the north, 379 km (235 mi)). Turkmenistan is slightly larger than Cameroon in territory, occupying 491,120 square kilometres (189,620 sq mi). By area, Turkmenistan ranks fourth among the former Soviet republics, after Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The country's greatest extent from west to east is 1,100 km (680 mi), and its greatest north-to-south distance is 650 km (400 mi). (Source: Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA)