If the Land Was Good, Why Did Nothing Happen for Centuries?

If a place is really good, why hasn't it developed early? Someone said, if you say Melbourne has a good layout, why wasn't it the center of the world thousands of years ago? Some people also say that since some cities have an average layout, why were they once so prosperous? I'll use a simple analogy: the pattern is like a pot, determining how much it can hold at most; Fortune is like water, determining when it is injected. The pot is big, without water, it won't be full. The pot is small and forcefully filled with water, which may fill up in the short term but quickly overflow.