The Hondius Family is among the most important names associated with what has become known as the Dutch Golden Age of Cartography.

The family business was founded by Jodocus Hondius I (1563-1612) and after his death was carried on by his two sons, Jodocus Hondius II and Hendrik Hondius.

In 1584, because of the war with Spain and to escape religious persecution, Jodocus fled to London with his sister Jacomina, who was also an engraver. Family alliances led to Hondius' introduction to the leading scientists and geographers of the day and laid the groundwork for the remainder of his illustrious career.

1593 he returned to Amsterdam and established a business specializing in the making of maps and globes.

In 1604 Jodocus bought the copperplates of Mercator's Atlas, which had fallen behind in competition with Ortelius' popular atlas. He combined Mercator's original maps with about 40 of his own more up-to-date maps (including new maps of the Continents and important regional maps of the Americas) and from 1606 published enlarged editions of the Atlas, still under Mercator's name but with his own name as publisher.

These atlases have become known as the Mercator/Hondius series, with nearly 50 editions published between 1606 and 1641 in several different languages.

Between 1605 and 1610 he engraved the plates for the maps in John Speed's The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine.

Shortly before Jodocus' death in 1612, his daughter Elisabeth married another prominent publisher, Jan Jansson. The family firm continued to prosper, managed first by Coletta, then by Hendrik and Jodocus II, and finally passing on to Jansson.

Abraham Ortelius was born in Antwerp. After studying Greek, Latin and mathematics, he set up business with his sister, as a book dealer and "painter of maps." Traveling widely, his business prospered and he established contacts with scholars in many lands.

A turning point in his career came in 1564 with the publication of a World Map in Eight Sheets; other individual maps followed and then - at the suggestion of a friend - he gathered together a collection of maps from contacts among European cartographers, had them engraved in uniform size, and issued in 1570 the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Atlas of the Whole World).

The Theatrum was the first uniformly sized, systematic collection of maps and hence can be called the first atlas.

Most of the maps were engraved by Frans Hogenberg.

The atlas was an instant success and appeared in numerous editions in different languages, incorporating the latest contemporary knowledge and discoveries. The final edition appeared in 1612.

Between 1570 and 1612 the Theatrum was re-issued in 42 editions with 5 supplements, and with text in Latin, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Italian and English.

Apart from modern maps in his major atlas, Ortelius himself compiled a series of historical maps known as the Parergon Theatri which appeared from 1579 to 1606, sometimes as a separate publication and sometimes incorporated in the Theatrum.

The number of maps included in the Parergon increased from 4 in 1579 to 43 in 1606, with text in Latin, French, Italian, German and English (1606).

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Ortelius noted his sources of information and in the first edition acknowledgement was made to 87 different cartographers.

Printing House of the Family Blaeu

The Flemish printing family of Blaeu were mainly involved in the printing of geographic books, nautical maps and atlases. These works were much sought after, particularly their collections of maritime maps, together with descriptions of the coastlines and the accounts of their voyages, destined mainly for use by navigators, all of which greatly contributed to the fortunes of the Blaeu family. The founder of the family was Willem Janszoon Blaeu.

Willem was born in Alkmaar, Holland in 1571 and died in Amsterdam in 1638. The son of a herring merchant (herring traders were entitled to titles of nobility in Holland at the time), he was a keen student of mathematics and astronomy.

In 1594 he left for Denmark, where he stayed for about two years with the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe at his observatory, on the island of Hveen, learning the fundamentals of cosmography and geography, and the construction and use of astronomical instruments.

He later returned to his own country in about 1597, where he opened a shop for mathematical and astronomical instruments, distinguishing himself as a producer of globes and, later, as a cartographer and writer.

On his death, his sons Cornelius and Jan continued the business and followed in his footsteps. Of the two, Jan was better known as a typographer and also as a famous lawyer. He was born in Amsterdam in 1596 and died there in 1673. He was head of the company business from 1638 when he was appointed the official cartographer for the Dutch East India Company.

In February 1672 a fire broke out in the main printing press at Gravenstraat. The damage was enormous, destroying not only thousands of paper sheets and printed maps, but also copper plates and metal for type, both of which melted in the heat. Although his other press at Bloemgracht continued to print, the loss must have been considerable.

The situation was made worse by Blaeu's fall from political office under the new regime of William III (of Orange) later in the year. Many of his surviving copper plates were sold, particularly to Frederick de Wit.

In December 1673, Joan Blaeu died, leaving his 22-year-old son Joan Blaeu II in control of the company. The Blaeu press continued to publish maps and other works, but its heyday was over, and the firm ceased operations in the early years of the 18th century. A great era in cartographic history was over.