The Hondius Family 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. Jodocus was born in Wakken, the son of Olivier de Hondt, sheriff and registrar of Wakken and Petronella d'Havertuyn. His family moved to Ghent when Jodocus was still very young and by the age of eight he had taken up drawing and engraving. 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. Shortly thereafter Jacomina married the Flemish émigré Pieter van de Berghe, and Jodocus married Coletta van den Keere, sister of Pieter van den Keere. These family alliances led to Hondius' introduction to the leading scientists and geographers of the day and laid the ground work for the remainder of his illustrious career. In 1588, he completed the engravings for the English edition of Lucas Waghenaer's Spieghel der zeevaart (The Mariner's Mirrour), one of the most elaborately engraved atlases of the 16th century. He then trained with the English cartographers Richard Hakluyt and Edward Wright, and soon gained an international reputation. In 1593 he returned to Amsterdam and established a business specializing in map and globe making. In 1604 Jodocus bought the plates 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 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 1641in several different languages. Due to the immense popularity of the Atlas, the maps were reengraved in miniature form and issued as a pocket Atlas Minor. 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. From 1632 the premises were known as De Wackeren Hondt (The Watchful Dog), a pun on the family name.