Michael van Langren was the youngest member of a family of Dutch cartographers. His grandfather, Jacob Floris van Langren was born in Gelderland but moved to the Southern Netherlands and later to Amsterdam, where his sons Arnoldus and Henricus were born. Unusually, each member of the family retained the second name Floris rather than a patronym. Jacob and his sons produced globes from 1580, both terrestrial and celestial. A 1586 pair survives, the celestial globe based on astronomical data provided by Rudolf Snellius father of Willebrord Snellius, while Petrus Plancius collaborated on the 1589 edition. In 1592, the States General granted the Van Langren family a monopoly in the production of globes, which led to quarrels with Jodocus Hondius.