Life & contribution
Baghdad-born Jewish businessman who rose from modest circumstances to become one of the best-known property and business figures in early twentieth-century Shanghai.
Detailed biography & historical context
Baghdad-born Jewish businessman who rose from modest circumstances to become one of the best-known property and business figures in early twentieth-century Shanghai.
The documented record currently assembled for Silas Aaron Hardoon includes the following: Born in Baghdad around 1851, he moved through Bombay to Shanghai and worked for David Sassoon & Co. before building his own fortune. Became one of Shanghai’s largest property owners and a prominent philanthropist, illustrating the global reach of Baghdadi Jewish commercial networks.
This biography illustrates the commercial and philanthropic networks that linked Baghdad to ports, cities and diaspora communities across Asia and Europe. Those networks carried not only capital but also communal institutions, schools, synagogues and charitable patronage.
Archive classification: Business & Philanthropy. Recorded life dates/status: c. 1851–1931.
This profile synthesizes the documentary sources listed below; where the record is limited or contested, the dossier avoids unsupported detail.
Additional documented context
- Born in Baghdad around 1851, he moved through Bombay to Shanghai and worked for David Sassoon & Co. before building his own fortune.
- Became one of Shanghai’s largest property owners and a prominent philanthropist, illustrating the global reach of Baghdadi Jewish commercial networks.
Documentary references
Additional biographical details are tied to the source records below.
Permanent ID · IJHDA-PER-0042
This biographical figure record is integrated into Discover Jewish Iraq from the Virtual Embassy’s Iraqi Jewish heritage collection.