Natural materials and processes represent the global substance reflecting and determining its formation and existence as a whole and in all its components. Revealing the reasons for their formation and manifestation is crucial. The paper highlights the two main factors: «influences» and «gradients». Influences are interpreted as the impact of some substances and events on other similar parameters, and gradients are vector changes and differences in systems composition, structure, properties, states, energy and thermodynamic parameters. To provide an insight into the role and significance of the above factors and reasons, an attempt was made to consider their potential manifestation throughout the general world history within the existing knowledge about it.