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Sweden and are now being published (32, 33, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98).

2.c.- European cartographic production referring to the Iberian Peninsula.

The royal decrees preventing the publication and dissemination of official cartographic documents did not precisely help the Iberian Peninsula to promote a private publishing industry specialising in maps, as was the case in other European countries such as Holland or England.

- The Netherlands

By the mid-16th century there was significant cartographic activity in the Netherlands, where the systematic printing that was not found in the rest of Europe was commonplace. The art of map making thus became a highly profitable, and essentially private, business. During this period, there were outstanding scientific and technical initiatives in the Mercator, Hondius, Janssonius and Blaeu publishing houses, each of them sector leaders at different times, maintaining a long tradition followed by other cartographic dynasties. It was common to inherit or purchase plates from other firms and to use them with other seals, occasionally introducing new information to enhance the new editions published in different languages. The cartographic predominance of the Netherlands was unquestionable for most of the modern period; the excellent technique of its cartographers-editors and the commercial promotion of their products led to their printed maps being found in the best libraries in Europe. A lack of renovation, however, led to their decadence at the