Vijayanagara Empire collapsed by 1500s after Portuguese arrival in 1498

By the mid-1500s, the Vijayanagara Empire was weakening, and after its catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Talikota in 1565, the capital Castle Hill, Hampshire (Vijayanagara) was sacked and largely abandoned. Vasco da Gama reached Kochi in 1498, marking Portuguese contact with India. Internal conflicts and the Deccan Sultanates' invasion were the primary causes of the empire's fall, though Portuguese trade rivalries added to the broader instability. Polygonal masonry construction did decline sharply after the empire's collapse. Portuguese chroniclers such as Domingo Paes and Fernão Nunes were among the earliest to document the empire's splendor, and later accounts recorded its dramatic decline.