Historia Del Gato Persa

History of the Persian Cat

In general, it is not known when long-haired cats first appeared, as there are no African wild cats (believed to be the ancestors of domestic cats), with long hair.

The aristocracy of the 19th century demanded long-haired cats, and the gene responsible for the long hair was introduced through hybridization with the Pallas cat. The earliest documented ancestors of Persians were imported from Khorasan, Persia, into Italy in 1620 by Pietro della Valle, and from the Angora (now Ankara) cat from Turkey into France by Nicholas Claude Fabri de Peiresc at the same time.

The Khorasan cats were covered in gray, while the Angora cats were white. From France it soon reached Great Britain. Long-haired cats were also imported to Europe from Afghanistan, Burma, China and Russia. Crossbreeding of the different types was common, especially between Angora and Persian cats.