I would add that natural resources and/or control of resources can strongly shape cultural development (or lack thereof), and can often be intertwined with geog

I would add that natural resources and/or control of resources can strongly shape cultural development (or lack thereof), and can often be intertwined with geography to a large extent. Also, history may not even need to be very intertwined for a major one-time event to trigger a proportional pivot in culture going forward.