In the 19th century, Justus von Liebig showed that brewer's yeast could be concentrated, bottled and eaten, but early commercial attempts struggled. The Marmite Food Extract Company formed in Burton upon Trent in 1902, using yeast from the Bass Brewery. British beer yeast needed new processing methods before it made a good product. After vitamins were discovered around 1912, Marmite's B vitamins made it more popular, and British troops received it in their World War I rations. In the 1930s, researcher Lucy Wills used it to treat anaemia in mill workers in Bombay.

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.