Culture points (CP) are a prerequisite of settling or conquering a new village to extend your bailiwick. Culture points are cumulative for your entire empire. Losing a village does not diminish your CP count. Most of the things you build will be producing culture points, more with each upgrade. Go to your palace or residence to see current production of that village and the total and the target number for the next village. All culture points are made each day - so if you have a level 10 Treasury (see below), it will make 50 culture points per day.