Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies in the early 1700s. He joined the crew of Benjamin Hornigold around 1716 and later captured a French slave ship, which he renamed Queen Anne's Revenge and armed with 40 guns. He blockaded the port of Charles Town in South Carolina and ransomed its inhabitants. After running his flagship aground near Beaufort, North Carolina, he accepted a royal pardon, but he soon returned to piracy. Governor Alexander Spotswood of Virginia arranged for a force of sailors to capture him. On 22 November 1718 Lieutenant Robert Maynard's men killed Teach and several of his crew at Ocracoke Inlet. The wreck of Queen Anne's Revenge was discovered by divers in 1996 off North Carolina.

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.