America as a continent had many helpful and needed resources for technological evolution, fair weather, harvestable lands, and less large predators when compared to Africa, plus the Mexica had lots of infighting which should boost technology advances. Am I wrong or missing something? I'm not well versed in the history of the indigenous people of America.
One thing to bear in mind is that the Amerindian civilizations, concentrated in Mesoamerica and the Andean region, were very isolated compared to civilizations in the Old World. That meant that Europe had access to inventions from the Middle East (the wheel, writing systems, etc.) and China (paper, compass, gunpowder, etc) among other places. Not only was the Old World larger than the New World, there was a nearly continuous belt of civilization spanning from Europe and North Africa across Asia to China. There was a millenia-long process of cross-fertilization in culture, ideas, and technology.
This perhaps explains why the Amerindian civilizations could be so sophisticated at some things (mathematics, agriculture, crop breeding) and behind the Old World in others (mostly stone tools, didn't use the wheel).
You might be interested in this response [author's account deleted] or this one by u/RioAbajo that address perceived technological differences between European and American cultures around the time of contact.