Tarikh-i Jahangushay
historical account of the conquest of Persia by the Mongols of Genghis Khan
Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy (Persian: تاریخ جهانگشای, lit. 'The History of the World Conqueror') or Tārīkh-i Jahāngushāy-i Juwaynī (تاریخ جهانگشای جوینی) is a detailed historical account written by the Ata-Malik Juvayni describing the Mongol, Hulegu Khan, and Ilkhanid conquest of Persia as well as the history of Isma'ilis. It is considered an invaluable work of Persian literature.
Written in Persian, it is one of the earliest known examples of Persian miniature and the "Metropolitan style" of the Mongol Ilkhanid court, together with the 1297-1299 manuscript Manafi' al-Hayawan (Ms M. 500) commissioned by Mongol ruler Ghazan. There are no earlier known Persian illustrated manuscripts from before the Mongol conquest (with the possible exception of Varka and Golshah, which however was created in Konya, at the time of the Sultanate of Rum sometime in the 13th century), although miniatures are known from Mina'i ceramics.
Contents
This account of the Mongol invasions of his homeland Iran, written based on survivor accounts, is one of the main sources on the rapid sweep of Genghis Khan's armies through the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and the established cities of the Silk Road including Otrar, Bukhara, and Samarkand in 1219, and successive campaigns until Genghis Khan's death in 1227 and beyond.
Juvayni's writing is sometimes inflated, as when he estimates the strength of the Mongol army at 700,000, against other accounts that put the number between 105,000 and 130,000. His descriptions are often written from a sense of drama: of the fall of Assassin castle Maymun-Diz in November 1256, where he was present at the siege, he describes the effect of trebuchet (catapult) bombardment on the battlements:
The first stones which were discharged from them broke the defenders' trebuchet and many were crushed under it. Fear of the quarrels from the crossbows overcame them so that they were in a complete panic and tried to make shields out of veils [i.e. they did best to defend with very indadequate equipment.] Some who were standing on towers crept in their terror like mice into holes or fled like lizards into the crannies of the rocks.
Juvayni's descriptions are, however, a very valuable resource for contemporary Mongol history, along with the work of Rashid al-Din, and the Secret History of the Mongols.
“Tarikh-i Jahangushay” enters the record as historical account of the conquest of Persia by the Mongols of Genghis Khan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tarikh-i, Jahangushay and historical can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q685019. VIAF identifies the subject as 305425495. The Library of Congress control number is n95051932. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1297, 1299, 1219 and 1227.
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