The Tour de France began in 1903 as a circulation battle between Paris sports newspapers. L'Auto, founded in 1899 by investors including Édouard Michelin, was selling fewer copies than the established Le Vélo. At a crisis meeting in November 1902, young cycling journalist Géo Lefèvre proposed a race around France, far longer than any attempted before. Long-distance races were already popular for selling papers, so the idea extended a known tactic to a national scale. The race became France's defining sporting event and has run almost every summer since, paused mainly by the world wars.

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.