A Public Domain Review essay surveys kite flying across five centuries and several continents, drawing on 69 images. Kites have been known by names that reflect their spiritual and natural associations, such as paper eagles in Greek and dragons in German. Chinese tradition credits early kites to figures such as Mozi and Lu Ban, while evidence from Polynesia suggests Southeast Asian kite flyers brought the tradition to Oceania. Kites were used in war for signalling, surveillance and dropping propaganda leaflets, and Marco Polo described man-lifting kites used to test ships before voyages. Recreational kite flying developed later, with the Double Ninth Festival and Indian festivals such as Gujarat's Uttarayan. In the late nineteenth century, kites helped inspire early aviation, with Lawrence Hargrave flying box kites in 1894 and Samuel F. Perkins's kites lifting observers in 1910.

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.