Vijayanagara
A South Indian empire builds a capital that Persian visitors compare to Rome.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 164 years
- Known to
- ± 10 years
- Era
- Post-Classical, Holocene
Founded in 1336, Vijayanagara resists northern expansion for two centuries and becomes enormously wealthy on the horse and spice trades. Its capital at Hampi covered some 25 square kilometres with elaborate hydraulic works, and foreign envoys described its markets heaped with precious stones. It is sacked in 1565 and never reoccupied, which is why the ruins survive so extensively.