About 54 million years ago, a group of forest dwelling animals called
miacids developed. All the carnivores, including cats, developed from
miacids. It is thought that domestic cats
descended from the African wildcat that was native to Africa, western
Asia, Scotland and southern Europe. Cats were one of the last animals
to be domesticated, probably about 4,000 years ago. The process of
domestication is complex. Basically, when humans settled down to an
agrarian culture, cats began hanging around the settlements. The cats
that hung around the settlements were more docile than those that
stayed away. Those cats began to breed with each other and therefore
pass on the docile tendency to their offspring. However, cats are not
considered to be truly domesticated as it would still be possible for
them to return to the wild and survive.
Given that cats originated in Africa, western Asia, Scotland and
southern Europe, it is likely that cats were domesticated in these
regions. However, the earliest evidence of domestication is the finding
of evidence of cats living as household companions of humans in Egypt
between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. The evidence consists of references
in writing, depiction in ornaments, statues of cats, bas-reliefs of
cats and paintings of cats. Initially cats were welcomed because they
killed rodents but soon became household companions.
Egyptians actively bred cats to continue or enhance traits. Cats were
also worshiped in Egyptian theology- cats were revered as the physical
form of the goddess Bast who was depicted as a woman with the head of a
cat and was the companion of the sun god, Ra. Bast was associated with
both the sun and the moon: Bast represented the life-giving warmth of
the sun; and the reflection of the eyes of cats was compared with the
way the moon reflects the sun's light. Egyptians were very protective
of their cats. They dealt severely with people who killed cats and
mourned them. Egyptians mummified cats after death so they could join
their companions in the afterlife. It is thought that Egyptians also
sacrificed their cats to Bast.
Phoenician traders transported cats to Europe and the British Isles.
Romans also smuggled cats out of Egypt and took to conquered regions
such as France, Germany, Holland, England and Spain. Monks took cats to
the Orient. Cats were used mainly to control rodent populations.
However, by Common Era, many cultures including Japanese, Siamese, East
Indian and Chinese had come to appreciate cats for their beauty, wisdom
and usefulness.
But in Europe in the Middle Ages cats were persecuted and killed because religious sects considered cats to be incarnations of the devil or as connected to the devil.
As sailing ships were used more, cats spread to the new world. In
addition, because cats were very good at killing and controlling
rodents, cats were kept on board ships.
