Vertical flight began with a simple toy: since around 400 BC, Chinese children have spun a bamboo copter, a stick with a rotor that is rolled between the hands and released to fly. The idea reached Europe through paintings and later scientists, and Leonardo da Vinci sketched an aerial screw in the 1480s. Real progress came in the 1800s, when Enrico Forlanini's steam-powered model lifted off in Milan in 1877. In 1907 the Cornu helicopter lifted its inventor a few tens of centimetres and kept him aloft for 20 seconds, the first truly free flight with a pilot. Early machines were unstable and needed a team to hold them steady, which is why the problem of control took decades to solve.

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.