The Ibero-American Institute close to the Kulturforum in Berlin is Europe’s largest specialist library of Ibero-American culture, with 830,000 volumes of literature, cultural studies and other items. The collection was compiled in the early 20th century when significant trade and links between Germany and Latin America existed. The collection survived World War 2 and continued to expand. Its collection mainly focuses on earth sciences, economics, history and linguistics. It also has 27,000 periodicals and newspapers.