by Palmerex
1. Yes2. You have 2 options :
a) add cubes from pool to regions where you have cubes or to adjecent regions
b) you can take all your cubes from map, and start your empire where do you want(of course in era 2 you can't go to era 3 regions) - like very first start empire action
3. You can add cubes in India and fight in South America. Fight and add cubes actions can take place in different regions.
4. Take all cubes from map, and start new empire.