struck me as unfamiliar.
Nope, it’s been quite familiar to even someone several hundred years ago.
Europeans civilization are 1000s of years old, America is a baby compared to them, the history and memory are very different.
Not really. The Greeks, the Arabs, yes. But 2,000 years ago the Europeans were were not "civilised" in the sense that we think of.
That really depends on what's your definition of "Europeans" and "civilized". The Catholic church exists for around 2 thousand years,is still alive and well, has its capital in Italy, and has defined western society for centuries.
And even by the most forgiving measure, took three centuries to become anything you might historically call "European".