What is the 13th-century chronicle that records the Mongol Empire's early history from a Mongol viewpoint?

The 13th-century chronicle that records the Mongol Empire’s early history from a Mongol viewpoint is The Secret History of the Mongols. It is the oldest surviving literary work in a Mongolic language and the most important native account of Genghis Khan.

Written for the Mongol royal family after Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, the chronicle traces his ancestry, childhood as Temüjin, rise to power, conquests, and the early reign of his successor Ögedei Khan. Its opening includes a semi-mythical genealogy involving a blue-gray wolf and a fallow doe, blending legend, dynastic memory, and historical narrative.

The author is unknown, and the original Mongolian manuscript has not survived intact. Much of the text was preserved through a Ming-era version that transcribed Mongolian pronunciation into Chinese characters. Scholars debate its exact completion date, with proposed dates ranging from 1228 to 1264.

Readers sometimes confuse it with Jami' al-tawarikh, a Persian history compiled by Rashid al-Din, or The History of the World Conqueror, written by Ata-Malik Juvayni. Those works are important external accounts; The Secret History is distinctive for its Mongol court perspective.