African Caribbean music and dance shaped British nightlife from the 1940s onward. Sound systems of records and amplifiers, run by deejays and MCs, turned basements, church halls and other ordinary spaces into dance venues, which were known as shubeens or blues parties. Dances such as ska, the reggae bounce and the wining movement spread from these rooms into wider British culture. The Notting Hill Carnival grew out of a 1959 response to the racist murder of Kelso Cochrane, and Claudia Jones set up the London Caribbean Carnival that became its precursor.

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.