In 1876 Lewis Carroll, the Oxford mathematician better known for Alice in Wonderland, published The Hunting of the Snark, his longest poem. It is an epic nonsense tale about a crew of nine tradesmen and a beaver hunting a mysterious creature called the Snark, where some Snarks are harmless but Boojums will kill you. Carroll wrote it during a difficult period after his cousin and godson Charlie Wilcox fell ill and died of tuberculosis. The poem's last stanza came to him first, during a long walk over the hills near Guildford, and the rest followed over six months. Carroll claimed the poem meant nothing in particular, but readers have been arguing over its meaning ever since. It has stayed in print, been translated widely, and inspired clubs of fans who memorise it.

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.