Laura Buck and Kyoko Yamaguchi in Sapiens:
Indeed, all living apes are found in the tropics. The oldest-known fossils from the human lineage (hominins) come from Central and Eastern Africa. The hominins who dispersed north into higher latitudes had to deal with, for the first time, freezing temperatures, shorter days that limited foraging time, snow that made hunting more difficult, and icy windchill that exacerbated heat loss from their bodies.
Given our limited adaptation to the cold, why is it that our species has come to dominate not only our warm ancestral lands but every part of the globe? The answer lies in our ability to develop intricate cultural solutions to the challenges of life.
More here.