In 1774 Parliament punished Boston for the Tea Party by closing its port and tightening British control, and the colonies answered with a boycott rather than war. Delegates from the colonies met in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774, in the First Continental Congress. They agreed to stop buying British goods and wrote resolutions claiming that colonists were entitled to life, liberty and property, language later echoed in the Declaration of Independence. Newspapers of the time show the tone shifting from protest toward the possibility of armed conflict. The Congress set a new meeting for May 1775, but the Battles of Lexington and Concord broke out in April 1775 before it could convene.

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.