In spring 1846 the Donner Party, a group of American pioneers from Springfield, Illinois, set out for California on the Oregon Trail. They chose the Hastings Cutoff, a route across the Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake Desert, which cost them time, cattle and wagons. By early November, heavy snow had trapped them near Truckee Lake, now Donner Lake, high in the Sierra Nevada. Food ran dangerously low, and some members set out on foot for help in mid-December. The first rescue party arrived in mid-February 1847, almost four months after the wagon train was trapped. Of the 87 members, 48 survived, and some had resorted to cannibalism, mainly eating the dead, but in one case murdering two Miwok guides.

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.