Well 'quicker' is more of a perception thing than anything else. Modern humans have been around for several hundred thousand years. For the vast amount of that time their technology evolved fairly slowly. Technology levels have increased, as much as they can objectively assessed, at exponential rates in the past 500 years. Thus over the last 200,000 years you would see almost a flat line for 185-190,000 years then a rapidly rising curve leading to the modern day. It doesnt take much to be just one step behind that curve.

There are lots of cultural and trade factors in the rise of civilisation. But I think trading of ideas is one of the most crucial ones and this can be very dependant on geography. Most of the ancient civs arose in the Middle East, where trade routes stretched out in all directions, increasing the flow of ideas and concepts as well as mundane things like metals, gems, food stuffs. This is why advanced civilisations arose near the centres of these flow of ideas and goods, and less at the tips of it.

Essentially we dont know for sure, although there is a thriving discussion on the issue, but believe that geography is key element in the initial phases. After that it requires some critical level of a range of factors to initiate the rise, then the 'race' is won and the global effect is to halt all other civs when they make contact with the the most advanced peoples. Another reason may be the arise of a fortuitously efficient language/numeric system could be one of the key factors. Mesoamerican writing systems (and this point may be arguable) seem to our eye less efficient and easy to use and manipulate than the current European systems, if some smart Mayans had invented a better system and this had caught on the story might be different.

Australia for example was very isolated from the rest of the world, and had a generally harsh environment and subsequent low population density. This prevented the rise of anything much beyond a basic hunter gatherer society. I cant recall any evidence they were even on the edge of the bronze age. Ground Edge Axes, a more advanced form of stone tool, took thousands of years to even spread across the continent from North to South (that is from the edge closest to, and in contact with other cultures, but then never spread to Tasmania because it arrived in SE Australia after the landbridges had been closed by the end of the ice age.

In a sense someone had to be first, and those areas with good geographically beneficial ties with many other peoples had an advantage. Once the progression starts it rapidly gains speed and no one is likely to have caught up. I think the specific factors can be argued from here to eternity but I dont think its a 'failure' not to have reached that level first. I certainly cant vouch for modern western humans being happier than bronze age Native Americans.