The only reason why we know anything about the smaller culturs is because their wares were sitting in a Western museum.
Not one of us would be willing to travel to any of these places to see those same trinkets in their homeland.
Even today I’ve watched videos of people traveling in india - everything has a price that you pay or no help. You get stuck in the mud they’ll negotiate a deal, but know that they like the muddy thick roads because they make a living getting people unstuck.
India is one nation I would never go to. Nothing there to see or want to know about.