Soda water was first sold in the early 1800s as a health drink, and its name comes from the sodium salts sometimes added to it. Pharmacists served it at soda fountains, and Benjamin Stillman set up one in a New Haven drugstore in 1806. Flavoured versions such as sassafras root beer soon made soda mean a sweetened fizzy drink. Pop probably imitates the sound of a cork leaving a bottle, and it appeared for ginger pop in Britain by 1816, later spreading in the Midwest through bottlers such as Faygo. Coke took off in the South because Coca-Cola was first served in Atlanta in 1886 and people simply asked for a Coke. Soft drink originally meant any nonalcoholic drink, as opposed to hard drinks containing spirits.

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.