Because the largest concentration of military, economic, and political power on Earth during that period was in Europe. Before 1600, the largest power concentration (outside India and China, that is) was the Ottoman Empire; after 1950 it was the United States.
Note that the above includes European Russia in Europe and refers to Europe as a whole. Falecius' view is correct, though; to speak of Europe as a whole implies a unity of purpose and action which has never existed and unless current European attitudes undergo radical change is unlikely to ever exist.
Precisely what meant indeed.