A common story says medieval Europeans were held back from sailing west by belief in a flat Earth, and that Columbus proved the world was round. Historians say the real debate was about distance. Educated people already knew the Earth was round, and the dispute was over how far it was to Asia. Columbus grossly underestimated the planet's circumference because of two calculation errors, which made the East Indies seem closer than they were. Scholars who rejected his plan were right about the distance, and Columbus was lucky that the Americas stood in the way. The flat-Earth version was popularised in the nineteenth century, notably by Washington Irving's biography of Columbus.

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.