Baltic states, northeastern region of Europe containing the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
The Baltic states are bounded on the west and north by the Baltic Sea, which gives the region its name, on the east by Russia, on the southeast by Belarus, and on the southwest by Poland and an exclave of Russia. The underlying geology is sandstone, shale, and limestone, evidenced by hilly uplands that alternate with low-lying plains and bear mute testimony to the impact of the glacial era. In fact, glacial deposits in the form of eskers, moraines, and drumlins .