Apongo was an 18th-century Jamaican rebel leader who had been a prince in West Africa before being enslaved and taken to Jamaica. The only detailed record of his life is a short diary entry by the English enslaver Thomas Thistlewood, and historians have debated where he came from. The entry names his homeland Dorme, which many scholars read as Dahomey in today's Benin, while others argue it was a state in what is now Ghana. He died in Tacky's Revolt, an uprising that lasted 18 months from 1760 and was arguably the largest slave insurrection in the British Empire before the 19th century.

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.