In 1879 the genealogist Albert Welles published a 400-page book arguing that George Washington was descended from Odin, the Norse god. The claim relied on a chain of medieval Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian ancestors that Welles linked up with imagination. It reflected late-19th-century American interest in Nordic and Anglo-Saxon roots, which also made Viking ships popular: a replica of the Gokstad ship sailed to Chicago for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Such ideas gave elite Americans an ancient pedigree, though they were not serious history.

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.