The Egyptians and the Phoenicians lacked the easily farmable land. Greece was fertile but a little arid, Northern Europe was harsher and riskier, but Rome was in a perfect sweet spot.
On the other side of the world China had the farmland but not the inland sea, so there was less motivation for sea-borne trade and exploration.
So it all started with a tradition that required basic materials science, knowledge of the weather, currents, and seasons, navigation by the sky, and the politics of war and trade across large distances.
And it didn't stop until we had explored the entire planet and taken the first steps into space.
In between we had to learn about time, navigation, and planetary weather patterns, how to build and power better ships, and more complex politics.
It seems like a very natural progression.