Johann Homann (1663 to 1724) and heirs are acknowledged to be the most important German map publishing firm of the 18th century, having supplanted the Dutch cartography which dominated the 17th century.

The Homann firm was founded in Nurnberg about 1702. Soon after publishing his first atlas in 1707, the founder became a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences and, in 1715, he was appointed Geographer to Emperor Charles VI.

After Johann’s death in 1724, the firm was continued under the direction of his son Christoph (born 1703) until his death in 1730 when the firm passed to the heirs on the condition that they publish under the name “Homann Heirs”. The firm remained active into the 19th century and had a wide influence on map publishing in Germany. Apart from the atlases, the firm published a very large number of individual maps of Europe, the Americas, individual countries and kingdoms and even the Solar System.