William G. Morgan invented volleyball in 1895 at a YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts, because basketball was too physically demanding for his older clients. He drew on badminton, so he first called the game mintonette, and his written rules set a net about 6 ft 6 in high and allowed any number of players. The name changed after an observer at the first public match in 1896 noticed how much the ball was volleyed back and forth. Spalding then published instruction books that helped the game spread across the United States.

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.