Persians are named for their region of origin, Persia, now known as Iran, and were brought back to England by early European explorers and Crusaders. The Persian is often known of royalty, as many nobles in both Persia and Europe kept Persians as pets. It is widely believed that the cat was brought from Persia to the west, where the modern breed originated. However, some ancient hieroglyphics do resemble this unique breed, which has led historians to speculate that it may go back to the time of the ancient Egyptians. Another idea on heritage is that the Persian is descended from Felix Libyca the breed which originated in Asia Minor and Africa. Yet others think that this breed was introduced by the Romans in the early 1500s.
In 1620 the Italian Pietro della Valla,who had lived in and written extensively about the Middle East, realized that it was time for him and his wife to return home, as always he sought presents to take back to Italy for friends and family. Jewels, silks and spices, were very popular with the court ladies, but he was looking for something more unusual.
When he was strolling through a Persian Bazaar he saw the the most beautiful, blue gray , long-coated cat and soon agreed to purchase four pairs of these remarkable cats from the owner. He wrote about this discovery in his journal at the time, this being the first written record of Persian Cats being introduced to Europe. The first cat was traded by Valle in exchange for goods and services. By the 1800s the breed had become popular in Europe and came to be treated as a symbol of high status. The breed was sent for trade in the 1800s to the Americas and soon after became a worldwide breed. In Harrison Weir's first written breed standard published in 1876 the cats were called Asiatic cats. The first cats seen in Britain were described as Angoras or French cats which were mostly being white.
Two hundred years later Blue Persians were enchanting people at the cat fancy shows and later in 1971 when Harrison Weir organized the first cat show ever known in London, Persians were the most popular of all the exhibits, by then in various other colors than the original blue and in the present day available in around fifty different colors and patterns.
The Persian therefore, is one of the world's oldest breeds and the most popular in the United States. They have a sweet, gentle, personality and are loyal and affectionate toward their owners.
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Origination of Persian cats breed!
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