In late 1781 the crew of the British slave ship Zong threw more than 130 enslaved Africans into the sea over several days. The ship's owners had insured the captives as cargo, and after they reached Jamaica they claimed the losses from their insurers. The insurers refused, and the resulting court cases turned on whether the deaths were legal. A later appeal ruled against the owners because the crew was at fault, but the case gained wide publicity. Olaudah Equiano and Granville Sharp used it to campaign against the slave trade, and it became a symbol of the Middle Passage.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.