Three Polish-Jewish brothers, Herman, Hillel and Henry Hassenfeld, founded Hassenfeld Brothers in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1923 selling textile remnants. The company expanded into pencil cases and school supplies, then made modeling clay and medical play kits, and became primarily a toy company by 1942. It bought Mr. Potato Head in 1952. In 1964 it launched G.I. Joe and called the figure an action figure to sell it to boys who would not play with dolls. In the mid-1980s Hasbro overtook Mattel to become the world's largest toy company.

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.