Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Annie Johnson, was an American memoirist, poet and civil rights activist who lived from 1928 to 2014. Her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), covers her life up to age 17 and brought her international acclaim. She worked odd jobs before becoming a writer, later spent years on the lecture circuit, and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. In 1993 she recited her poem On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's inauguration, the first inaugural poem since Robert Frost in 1961.

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.