Isaac Surgun

Isaac Surgun was a merchant in India and had often provided his services to the Dutch East India Company. He was originally from Constantinople, and had settled on the Malabar Coast in Calicut and Cochin early in the 18th century. Surgun was dealing in a variety of commodities, he owned warehouses, factories, and ships.

Surgun’s commercial transactions brought him into contact with many native Indian and Muslim potentates and European merchants. His contacts and linguistic abilities made him a natural choice by the Dutch East India Company to represent its interests before the new Mysore rulers, Haidar Ali Khan and his son Tipu Sahib, in 1759. He also secured the freedom of a group of English visitors who had been imprisoned in Calicut in 1779.