What are some ways that natural, environmental, and geographical factors helped shape the society, religious worldview, politics, and the settlement/diffusion/expansion/invasion patterns of pristine and early civilizations throughout Asia and Africa?

We have discussed the birth of the earliest cities and civilizations to the emergence of ever-larger empires. What were some of the strategies, institutions, and practices that empires innovated or adopted to help them maintain and consolidate their power and to help keep public order throughout their dominion?