The Biographical Indexes, part of the World Biographical Information System (WBIS), were first introduced as indexes to the Biographical Archives, but form independent research instruments for answering biographical queries, in their own right. Each Index contains short biographical entries on persons from a specific geographical or cultural region. They provide the names of each person covered, along with their life dates, profession and the sources used to obtain information. The Baltic Biographical Index contains brief summaries of the lives of about 175,000 persons from the Baltic region, paying particular attention to ethnic Germans and those living in exile. Also included are the new economic and political elites of these countries, which regained their independence in 1991.