A Brief History of the Development of Pet Cats: The Struggle of Cats from Wild Animals to Accompanying You
Some cat friends are very interested in the development of pet cats. However, this topic is too big. In view of the space limitation, we have combed the main line of the development of pet cats, hoping to give you a basic understanding.
A team led by Maria Geiger, a professor at the French Center for Scientific Research and the Seventh University of Paris, conducted DNA analysis of more than 200 cats from more than 30 archaeological sites in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, which lived for 9000 years, not only in the Mesolithic Age when hunting and farming civilizations overlapped. There are also Angora cats from the 20th century.
The analysis shows that modern domestic cats can be traced back to a small sandy yellow cat in the ancient Middle East that looks like today’s tabby cats, the African wildcat. Domestic cats originated in Turkey and Egypt 9000 years ago, and the first real shovelers were the ancient Egyptians.
From wild animals to human society
About 5000-10000 years ago in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia in the Middle East, with the prevalence of farming civilization, to prevent stored food from being eaten by rodents, ancient Egyptians encouraged rodent-eating cats to enter their settlements, and even deliberately used leftover food to attract cats to stay.
Over time, a harmonious symbiotic relationship has been formed between humans and cats, and some of the docile and friendly wild cats have gradually begun to enter the human family and multiply, which can be regarded as the ancestors of modern domestic cats.
Cat worship and totem culture
Through the scenes described in ancient Egyptian murals and artworks, we can see that cats in ancient Egypt were not only used to catch mice but also accompanied people to hunt and trained to catch fish and birds.
As early as around 2890 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to worship the cat, God Bester. The cat-headed goddess represented the moon and was the patron saint of the family. It symbolized the warmth and joy of the family and was deeply loved by the ancient Egyptians.
In ancient Egyptian culture, female cats generally represented the moon, mostly gentle and kind goddesses, while male cats symbolized the sun and were regarded as the incarnation of the sun God Ra.
Cats played an important role in the civilization of ancient Egypt, and they had various strict laws to protect cats. For example, if someone killed a cat, even if it was an accident, it would be sentenced to death, and cat abuse was extremely costly in that era.
Follow the footsteps of mankind to go global
In 500 BC, cats began to cover the surrounding areas with human trade and migration activities from Egypt and Mesopotamia in the Middle East. At first, they were brought to Rome by caravans. With the continuous expansion of the Roman Empire and the increasing frequency of trade and religious activities, cats also appeared in Asia and Europe.
In 1400 AD, the cat arrived in the New World with the opening of a new route.
The Dark Middle Ages are in danger of extinction
In the darkest European Middle Ages, cats were regarded as ominous objects and the incarnation of demons by religious and political forces, and their social status declined sharply, and their number declined sharply.
It was followed by the prevalence of the Great Plague in Europe, which caused immeasurable casualties and became the greatest disaster in European history. (Of course, there is no causal relationship between the Great Plague of Europe and the extermination of cats.).
Collect thousands of favors and always accompany you around
After 9000 years of struggle, cats have developed into a companion pet that keeps pace with dogs in modern society. Through their beautiful and proud appearance, smart and clingy personality, they have successfully conquered all of mankind and become popular all over the world!
