I mean, for example south and Central America only have like 2 or 3 languages, and is like the same territory of Europe, but in Europe in a “small” area are more than 6 languages (Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian). Focus more in explaining why in Europe are so many languages in such a “small” territory?
Edit 1: yeah I know América has a lot of different indigenous languages and dialects, also Europe. I’m focusing on the principal languages
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The key point is that the size of an area that speaks a common language depends on the speed and ease of communication. A small area that has no contact with the outside world will quickly develop its own dialect and, eventually, a separate language over time.
European colonisation of the Americas was made possible by advances in communication technology, particularly sailing ships. This not only made it easier for a single nation to rule a large empire, it also allowed for a single language to dominate the empire. The wide spread of Latin due to the ancient Roman Empire shows that politics plays a role in ease of communication too.
Before the Age of Discovery there were many more European languages than you’re probably familiar with. For example, Spain wasn’t nearly so dominated by Castillian Spanish, with Galician, Catalonian and others more widely spoken than they are now. And of course the native peoples of the Americas had hundreds of their own languages and these haven’t all disappeared either.
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