“and the Neanderthals evolved from apes.”
Neanderthals are always shown as basically football player Caucasians. Their extra brain size was apparently for a larger visual cortex. (location of size in skulls.) Their eyes apparently had no whites, meaning they were like modern ape eyes. (Eye genes genetically similar to apes.) So, they were most likely nocturnal and had much more developed visual capabilities. They most likely looked like apes and were probably covered with hair like apes. (They survived constant polar temperatures.) Most likely, we were not closely related and probably couldn’t interbreed.
Modern Europeans have about 20% Neandertal genes. The rest is from Africa.
Asians have another source of genetic material in addition to Neandertal: Denisovian DNA.
As our ancestors crossed the world, they sometimes made war, but often made love.
All of these must have been close enough to breed, absent gene splicing technology.