We often define the greatness of historic states by how much territory they controlled. But, early states were more concerned about population > land.

Having a sufficient number of people to work agricultural land that was accessible by the capital was a constant struggle.

One of the hardest tasks for an early state was to find enough people to engage in agricultural and non-agricultural labor. And prevent them from running away as living conditions in early states were inferior to those in non-states for all but the elites.

In many cases the forced relocation of captives from the periphery of early states to the core was not done to grow the population but to maintain it. Mass exoduses and epidemics were not uncommon.

Another thing we forget when looking at the territory of early states is that control of their territory, even core territory, fluctuated. During monsoon and winter seasons many state's lost the ability to project their power over anything beyond the capital.