Genghis Khan had a rough childhood

One of the interesting facts about Genghis Khan is that he had a rough childhood. Certain aspects of Khan's life have been brought into sharper light thanks to books like Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (2004) and The Secret History of the Mongols (approximately 13th century). Khan had a challenging upbringing after being born in Temujin in 1162, not far from the Mongolia-Siberia border.

Genghis had to deal with the harshness of life on the Mongolian Steppe from a young age. His tribe later drove his family out and left his mother to care for her seven children by herself after rival Tatars poisoned his father when he was only nine. In order to survive, Genghis learned to hunt and gather food as a child. He may have even killed his own half-brother as an adolescent in a food fight.

Rival clans kidnapped Genghis and his young wife while he was a teenager, and he later lived as a slave before staging a daring escape. Despite these setbacks, he had already made a name for himself as a fearsome fighter and leader by the time he was in his early 20s. He began forming agreements with the leaders of significant tribes after gathering an army of supporters. By 1206, he had successfully united the steppe confederations under his control and had started to focus on conquering other lands.