Ladino is a form of Judeo-Spanish that Jews carried across the Mediterranean after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. It sounds much like Spanish but has absorbed Hebrew, Arabic, Portuguese, French, Italian and Turkish. At Passover, many Sephardic families read a special Ladino style used in the Haggadah, which copies Hebrew word order exactly. For example, the phrase for tonight becomes a literal rendering of the Hebrew, so the words run in an unusual order. Everyday speech has faded in many communities, though the religious version has persisted for centuries. Many speakers now live in Israel, Turkey and the United States, and some use the language online.

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.