Neanderthals first emerged in Europe around 400,000 years ago. After evolving in Africa, anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe. There was a brief period of time, between about 51,000 and 39,000 years ago, when H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens shared the landscape — maybe fighting, and definitely interbreeding. But at the end of that era only one species was left standing.
Humans didn’t outsmart the Neanderthals. We just outlasted them. - The Washington Post