Root beer was drunk in the United States by the 18th century and was often served hot, sometimes with medicinal intent, because sassafras was valued as a remedy. Pharmacist Charles Elmer Hires made a root tea in 1875 and showed a commercial root beer at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. He called it root beer rather than root tea because he wanted to sell it to Pennsylvania coal miners. Non-alcoholic versions grew popular during Prohibition. In 1960 the FDA banned safrole, the sassafras oil that gave traditional root beer its flavour, from mass-produced foods after lab animals given large doses developed liver damage and cancers.

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.