Early carousels were training devices before they were rides. In 17th-century Europe, nobles practised ring jousting, spearing rings hung from posts at full gallop, and their horses were worn out by the drills. Late in the century someone built wooden horses suspended from a wheel on a central pole, spun by a work horse walking around the outside, so riders could practise without tiring real mounts. These rigs spread to fairs in Central Europe by the early 18th century and became popular with ordinary people. Platform carousels with fixed animals came in the mid-1800s, and in 1880 English engineer Frederick Savage added gears and offset cranks that gave the horses their up-and-down gallop.

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.