What is the difference between the stages of the formation of the political map of the world?

The formation of the political map of the world has several millennia, it is clear that during all this time there have been many different stages in this process. They all differ in human knowledge of our world. For example, the political map of the world until the moment when the revolutionary geographical discoveries took place was very modest, some continent was known as an unknown land. Then changes were made to it. The next step is colonization, the world map has also been changed. And also the world map changed depending on different conquests.