Sarah Galeel
Cats are a man best friend (Sorry, dogs), and the furry little creatures have been all over our lives. In our houses, the streets, and everywhere you go, there’s a cat.
But was this always the case?
It’s been less than 10,000 years since cats paraded into our lives. The question is, where were they before? What is the History of cats?
The easy answer is: they didn’t need humans to survive and were just minding their own business. Cats have been surviving entirely on their own.
Then, folks invented agriculture, and that’s when history changed.
Agriculture resulted in giant-scale storage of grains which attracted the same old and well-known freeloaders, mice and rats.
Grain attracted rodents.
Rodents attracted cats who think about the tasty meals.
The end result was that cats arrange to housekeep near human settlements. Eventually, cats being cats, moved properly on in.
Where did these first cats make it in to our lives?
The first clue lies in the place agriculture was first practised. Agriculture first took place within the Middle East in a grand sweep from modern-day Turkey to Egypt.
Welcome the African wild cat, Felis lybica.
African feral cats are barely more significant than our cute domestic cats and are yellow in colour with muted stripes. These cats have a docile, nearly laid-back nature.
Interestingly, these cats are likely to stay and hunt close to human dwellings immediately.
Locals nonetheless wish to catch and rear younger wild cats as pets.
When older, feral cats raised by people are likely to behave very similar to our acquainted housecats.
At least two different wild cat varieties are imagined to have contributed to domestic cats’ genetic structure.
Felis silvestris, The European wildcat, seems to have contributed darker markings and a peppery spirit to the African wild cat base.
Also, from Asia, the Pallas or Steppe cat (Felis manul) seems to have contributed long-haired coats to the combo.
The early domestication of cats is obscure, with sole patches of proof.
However, by 6,000 B.C., statues present in Anatolia (now, Turkey) show ladies with domestic cats.
Cats had clearly change into widespread and become affectionate pets by that point.
The earliest written data about cats seem by roughly 4,000 B.C. in Egypt, the place they have been incessantly stored to hunt mice and rats from saved grains.
It was an excellent time to be a cat in historical Egypt, wasn’t it?
Domestic cats have been considered the goddess Bast’s embodiment (or Bastet). A necropolis at her principal temple at Bubastis contained mummified cats.
Then, Romans unfold the domestic cat northward into central Europe and westward to Britain through their empire’s growth.
Cats have been rapidly adopted and admired as excellent hunters.
And they continued to manoeuvre north and east in Europe.
The Vikings used cats as each rodent hunters and pets. Freyja, the Viking goddess of love, fertility, battle, and death, was also associated with cats, where giant winged cats drew her chariot.
It became a tradition to offer new brides a kitten in her name.
Now the downfall of the kitties, the Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages have been a terrible time to be a cat.
Cats have been claimed to be witches familiars, in league with the devil.
Because of this superstition, cats have been routinely killed throughout festivals.
Sometimes they have been even burned alive or thrown off tall buildings.
However, Europeans paid their cruelty to cats, proving that cats do get the last laughs.
The cats’ deaths allowed the rodent population to rise uncontrolled. This was introduced within the Black Death, which killed many Europeans.
Eventually, Europeans started to appreciate cats and their clean and efficient hunting ways.
By the 1600s, folks in France learned their lesson and made holes at the bottom of their doors, allowing cats to enter and leave as they please.
In Asia, cats continued to be acquainted hunters and cherished pets.
Cats have been typically topics for drawing and portray in China.
In Japan, cats in Maneki Neko, are considered good fortune. They are sometimes present in companies to attract in cash.
