The Hanseatic League was a medieval network of merchant guilds and market towns across Central and Northern Europe. It grew from a few North German towns, including Lübeck, in the late 12th century and eventually linked nearly 200 settlements in eight modern countries, from Estonia and Russia in the northeast to the Netherlands in the west. It ran trading posts such as the Steelyard in London, and its economic power allowed it to impose blockades and even wage war. It had no permanent army or treasury, and it gradually unravelled as its members merged into other states, ending in 1669.

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.