Diamorphine, known as heroin, was first synthesised in 1874 by English chemist C. R. Alder Wright, but it became popular only after Felix Hoffmann re-synthesised it at Bayer in 1897. Bayer's scientists were trying to make codeine, a milder opium derivative. Instead they produced a form of morphine one and a half to two times more potent. The company marketed it from 1898 as a non-addictive morphine substitute and cough suppressant under the trademark Heroin. Its addictive effects soon became clear, and the United States restricted its sale through the 1914 Harrison Act and banned it in 1924. The League of Nations also moved to ban it in 1925.

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.