- 1161: the Song dynasty Chinese navy, employing gunpowder bombs launched from trebuchets, defeats the enormous Jin dynasty navy in the East China Sea in the Battle of Tangdao and on the Yangtze River in the Battle of Caishi.
- 1161: Kilij Arslan II, Sultan of Rum, makes peace with the Byzantine Empire, recognizing the emperor’s primacy.
- 1161: In the siege of Ani, troops from the Kingdom of Georgia take control over the city, only to have it sold for the second time to the Shaddadids, a Kurdish dynasty.
- 1162: Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire, is born as Temüjin in present-day Mongolia.
- 1163: The Norwegian Law of Succession takes effect.
- 1165–1182: Tensions and disputes between the Pagan Empire and the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa causes the Sinhalese under Parakramabahu the Great to raid Burma.
- 1168: King Valdemar I of Denmark conquers Arkona on the Island of Rügen, the strongest pagan fortress and temple in northern Europe.
- 1169: Political disputes within the Pandya Empire sparks the decade-long Pandyan Civil War.
- 1169: On May 1, the Norman invasion of Ireland begins. Richard fitzGilbert de Clare (‘Strongbow’) allies with the exiled Irish chief, Dermot MacMurrough, to help him recover his kingdom of Leinster.
