How did geography lead to historical and cultural differences between nations?

This is a pretty huge question for this short-answer space. Certainly before globalization, physical geography dominated hoe cultures and technology evolved. A great resource for this is a book called Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. You can check it out below:

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-guns-germs-and-steel/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA_qD_BRDiARIsANjZ2LAhNJIQCYs-qIR6ugOrOZ07HYIeNIwhzQS6QIerAt5r66F86GbFGEsaAk9bEALw_wcB#gsc.tab=0