Origin
It is not clear when longhaired cats first appeared, as there are no known long-haired specimen of the African wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic subspecies. There were claims in the 19th century that the gene responsible for long hair was introduced through hybridization with the Pallas cat, but research in the early 20th century refutes this theory.
The first documented ancestors of the Persian were imported from Khorasan, Persia into Italy in 1620 by Pietro della Valle, and from Angora (now Ankara), Turkey into France by Nicholas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc at around the same time. The Khorasan cats were grey coated while those from Angora were white. From France, they soon reached Britain. Longhaired cats were also imported to Europe from Afghanistan, Burma, China and Russia. Interbreeding of the various types were common especially between Angoras and Persians.
Recent genetic research indicates that present day Persians are related not to cats from the Near East but to cats from Western Europe. The researchers stated, "Even though the early Persian cat may have in fact originated from ancient Persia, the modern Persian cat has lost its phylogeographical signature."
Read more about this topic: Persian (cat)
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