In the 19th-century American South, ancient Egypt became a model for defending slavery. After Napoleon's expedition of 1798 produced the Description de l'Égypte, Americans wanted to see their young nation as the heir of great civilizations. Southern writers pointed to Egypt's pharaohs and its enslaved labourers as proof that great civilizations were hierarchical societies sustained by forced labour. Southern towns took names such as Memphis and Cairo. Abolitionists and African Americans read Egypt differently, as the biblical land of bondage from which Moses led the Israelites to freedom.

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.