I get how diverse Europe is and honestly don't see it as that large of an area really, MUCH smaler than N America and the second smallest continent if I remember my geography right... Many countries are much smaller than many of our states.....
And here I think we have a large part of the misunderstanding.
Europe may be smaller geograpically than North America, but is not smaller in terms of population, and has a much greater diversity in terms of culture and history and language.
Try going to Scotland and calling people there 'English'. One of the favourite pasttimes when Germans get together is to compare the many words to describe one particular object in the German language. There are customs and habits which vary from region to region within one single country in Europe, let alone across national borders.
From Dublin to Vladivostok is over 8,500 km. There are more than 50 countries spanning 11 time zones in 'Europe' which don't share a common history, culture, or language. The diversity across those 50+ countries is more diverse than across the 50 states of the US. The land mass may be greater in North America, but there are vast expanses of Canada with virtually no population.