So, I'm trying to make a realistic fantasy world populated with different cultures and creating a history spanning thousands of years. And for that I need a world map. A realistic world map. Something that's struck me while doing some research is that it seems as if all the early civilizations had (easy) access limestone, and that this material has been used very frequently throughout history. The same goes for bronze, which is an alloy of tin and copper, something the early civilizations DIDN'T have easy access to, and therefore had to trade. I've had this thought about gold, iron, silver and many other materials as well.

My question is, do you take these things into consideration when making your world? Do you think of where limestone is located? What kind of soil certain parts of the world has? Where metal is found? And if you DO take this into consideration, how do you decide all of that??