Hondius is best known for his early maps of the New World and Europe, for re-establishing the reputation of the work of Gerard Mercator, and for his portraits of Francis Drake.

He inherited and republished the plates of Mercator, thus reviving his legacy, also making sure to include independent revisions to his work.

[2][3] While in England, Hondius was instrumental in publicizing the work of Francis Drake, who had made a circumnavigation of the world in the late 1570s.

Also Hondius had engraved charts in the Mariners Mirrour (1588) and the gores for the first English globes, those of Emery Molyneux completed in 1592.

[5] In 1593, accompanied by his wife and Pieter van der Keere, he moved to Amsterdam where he remained until the end of his life.

[8] Hondius used copper plates to print John Speed's atlas The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, which was published in 1611/2.

After his death, his publishing work in Amsterdam was continued by his widow, two sons, Jodocus II and Henricus, and son-in-law Johannes Janssonius, whose name appears on the Atlas as co-publisher after 1633.