Very interesting how Russia is represented. There seem to be more hot spots of "enlightenment" than anywhere else, with the rest of the country "barbarous." Anyone know what that means?
In any case, we can definitely say that the map is skewed towards the cultural understanding at the time, mostly Euro-centric
Amusingly, this line commits the same "sin" of Euro-centrism. There was (nor is) no "the" cultural understanding - only "a" cultural understanding. This map, produced by a European culture, is naturally Euro-centric, just as Polynesian maps reflect Polynesian culture and views.