Tadeusz Kościuszko, born in 1746 in what is now Belarus, was a military engineer and leader who became a national hero in Poland, the United States, Lithuania and Belarus. He trained in Warsaw and later studied in France before moving to North America in 1776. There he served as a colonel in the Continental Army, designing fortifications including those at West Point, and was promoted to brigadier general by the Continental Congress in 1783. Back in Poland he led the 1794 uprising against Russia, until he was captured at the Battle of Maciejowice that October. The uprising's defeat led to the third partition of Poland in 1795, which ended the Commonwealth. Pardoned by Tsar Paul I, he emigrated to the United States, where he was a close friend of Thomas Jefferson. His will set aside his American assets for educating and freeing enslaved people, but the funds were never used for that purpose.

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.