Koryo-saram (Cyrillic: Корё сарам, Hangul: 고려사람) is the name which ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. The term is composed of two constituents: "Koryo", which refers to Korea from the years 918 AD to 1392 AD, and "Saram", which means "Person". Approximately 500,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former Soviet Union, primarily in the now-independent states of Central Asia. There are also large Korean communities in southern Russia (around Volgograd), the Caucasus, and southern Ukraine. These communities can be traced back to the Koreans who were living in the Russian Far East during the late 19th century.