Vijayanagara Empire · 1336-1565

Vijayanagara: the City of Victory

For more than two centuries the empire of Vijayanagara ruled southern India from a great city among the boulders of Hampi. Students explore it through the eyes of foreign visitors and ask how one battle in 1565 could empty a capital.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1500 to AD 1520
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For more than two centuries the empire of Vijayanagara ruled southern India from a great city among the boulders of Hampi. Students explore it through the eyes of foreign visitors and ask how one battle in 1565 could empty a capital.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Vijayanagara and its rivals in southern India.
  • Describe the capital Vijayanagara (Hampi) using visitors' accounts.
  • Explain why the empire lost its capital after the battle of 1565.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1500

Two rivals

Open the map in 1500 and find Vijayanagara in the south. Which sultanate lies along its northern border?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1500

The City of Victory

Zoom in on Hampi on the Tungabhadra River, among hills of granite boulders. Why build a capital among rocky hills on a river?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1520

Horses from the sea

Pan west to Goa on the coast. Vijayanagara bought war horses from Arabia and Persia through ports like this. Why did the empire need to import horses?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did Vijayanagara and the Deccan sultanates fight for so long over the rich lands between the rivers?
  2. Foreign visitors described markets full of diamonds, horses and spices. Why are travellers' accounts useful, and why should we be careful with them?
  3. Vijayanagara had Muslim soldiers in its army, and the sultanates had Hindu officials. What does that tell us about the period?
  4. Why could losing one battle in 1565 destroy a great capital?
  5. Hampi is a World Heritage Site today. Why do we protect ruined cities?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Rule History as Akbar, whose Mughal Empire began pushing south into the Deccan a few decades after 1565. Let students take turns ruling. Then compare: how did Akbar and the kings of Vijayanagara each deal with neighbours of another faith?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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