During the plague that struck Italy in 1656, the polymath Athanasius Kircher examined infected blood under a microscope and reported seeing "invisible little worms", making him possibly the first to look for the cause of plague this way. What he saw were likely blood cells or debris, not the bacterium, which was far too small for his lenses. His theories of spontaneous generation and "universal sperm" were soon rejected. But his proposal that a living, contagious agent causes disease anticipated germ theory, which was proven two centuries later.

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.