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/ / Cats got where they are today largely by sea travel. From ancient times, when they first left

perhaps presented some of their cats as prestigious gifts to Chinese emperors or  to the Romans, who were becoming increasingly powerful in northern Africa.  After domestic cats reached Rome, the advance of the Roman Empire carried them even farther throughout Western Europe.  By the end of the Roman Empire, cats were probably widespread in Britain, where they were to enjoy hundreds of years of peaceful coexistence with people until they fell out of favor in the Middle Ages (see pp. 24–27).
ON TO THE NEW WORLD With the beginning of the great voyages of discovery and colonization that set out from Europe from the 15th century onward, domestic cats crossed the Atlantic for the first time. Taken on board sailing ships to control infestations of rodents, they had ample time on the long sea passages to the Americas to produce kittens. When they arrived at ports of call, many of these burgeoning cat families simply jumped ship,
or were perhaps traded with local communities, while others accompanied pioneering settlers into the interior of the  New World. In the opposite direction, cats headed for Australia on convict ships and alongside colonists. There is  a possibly apocryphal story that the first cats to reach Australia were in fact survivors of a Dutch shipwreck in the mid-17th century.
RISE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CAT By the middle of the 19th century, domestic cats could be found on almost every sizeable landmass in the world and had diversified into distinct types. In Europe and the United States, the import of exotic-looking cats such as the Siamese and Turkish Angora stimulated much interest, and people began to see the taken-for-granted farmyard mouser or house pet in a new light. For almost the first time since the days of the ancient Egyptians, the cat was about to be once again a prized possession and a status symbol. Like-minded owners began to form cat clubs, where they could enthuse about their particular favorites and argue the merits of one type over another. These cat fanciers— or the “cat fancy” as they came to be known—organized shows that engendered much rivalry and endless competition to produce better-quality cats that conformed to ever-more precise specifications. The serious breeding of pedigree cats and the perfection of breed standards triggered a new phase of international travel for cats. As getting around the world became easier from the mid-20th century onward, cat enthusiasts, and even ordinary tourists, discovered “new” breeds—for example, the Turkish Van or the bobtailed cats from Japan—that had in fact been developing over many centuries in rarely visited areas. Brought back to the United States and the UK, such cats were used to start enthusiastic breeding programs and transatlantic exchanges. Cats have even been highly
Cats got where they are today largely by sea travel. From ancient times, when they first left Egypt, they crossed vast distances on ships taking merchants, colonists, and adventurers around the world. Cats were sometimes carried as trade items, but more often as vermin controllers. Wherever people disembarked in new lands, so did the cats. The tradition of a ship’s cat continues today only among private sailors. Modern commercial and naval vessels  no longer permit cats like “Stripey,” seen below on board the British Royal Navy warship HMS Warspite in the 1940s. SHIPS’ CATS
mobile within their native countries, moving from relative obscurity in  a particular area  to nationwide popularity and then—for example, the Devon Rex or the Maine Coon— achieving international recognition. In the 21st century, cats are still passing back and forth across the Atlantic as  one exotic breed after another becomes fashionable. Crosses between such novelties have produced yet further variations. As some of these become recognized outside their country of origin—and not all are—the global migration of cats continues.  One of the most recent developments has been a return to the original wildcat template, with breeders creating spotted  cats not unlike those that 4,000 years ago became the first pet felines. The domestic cat’s extensive travels could be said to have brought it back to its starting point.

Cats got where they are today largely by sea travel. From ancient times, when they first left


perhaps presented some of their cats as prestigious gifts to Chinese emperors or  to the Romans, who were becoming increasingly powerful in northern Africa.  After domestic cats reached Rome, the advance of the Roman Empire carried them even farther throughout Western Europe.  By the end of the Roman Empire, cats were probably widespread in Britain, where they were to enjoy hundreds of years of peaceful coexistence with people until they fell out of favor in the Middle Ages (see pp. 24–27).
ON TO THE NEW WORLD With the beginning of the great voyages of discovery and colonization that set out from Europe from the 15th century onward, domestic cats crossed the Atlantic for the first time. Taken on board sailing ships to control infestations of rodents, they had ample time on the long sea passages to the Americas to produce kittens. When they arrived at ports of call, many of these burgeoning cat families simply jumped ship,
or were perhaps traded with local communities, while others accompanied pioneering settlers into the interior of the  New World. In the opposite direction, cats headed for Australia on convict ships and alongside colonists. There is  a possibly apocryphal story that the first cats to reach Australia were in fact survivors of a Dutch shipwreck in the mid-17th century.
RISE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CAT By the middle of the 19th century, domestic cats could be found on almost every sizeable landmass in the world and had diversified into distinct types. In Europe and the United States, the import of exotic-looking cats such as the Siamese and Turkish Angora stimulated much interest, and people began to see the taken-for-granted farmyard mouser or house pet in a new light. For almost the first time since the days of the ancient Egyptians, the cat was about to be once again a prized possession and a status symbol. Like-minded owners began to form cat clubs, where they could enthuse about their particular favorites and argue the merits of one type over another. These cat fanciers— or the “cat fancy” as they came to be known—organized shows that engendered much rivalry and endless competition to produce better-quality cats that conformed to ever-more precise specifications. The serious breeding of pedigree cats and the perfection of breed standards triggered a new phase of international travel for cats. As getting around the world became easier from the mid-20th century onward, cat enthusiasts, and even ordinary tourists, discovered “new” breeds—for example, the Turkish Van or the bobtailed cats from Japan—that had in fact been developing over many centuries in rarely visited areas. Brought back to the United States and the UK, such cats were used to start enthusiastic breeding programs and transatlantic exchanges. Cats have even been highly
Cats got where they are today largely by sea travel. From ancient times, when they first left Egypt, they crossed vast distances on ships taking merchants, colonists, and adventurers around the world. Cats were sometimes carried as trade items, but more often as vermin controllers. Wherever people disembarked in new lands, so did the cats. The tradition of a ship’s cat continues today only among private sailors. Modern commercial and naval vessels  no longer permit cats like “Stripey,” seen below on board the British Royal Navy warship HMS Warspite in the 1940s. SHIPS’ CATS
mobile within their native countries, moving from relative obscurity in  a particular area  to nationwide popularity and then—for example, the Devon Rex or the Maine Coon— achieving international recognition. In the 21st century, cats are still passing back and forth across the Atlantic as  one exotic breed after another becomes fashionable. Crosses between such novelties have produced yet further variations. As some of these become recognized outside their country of origin—and not all are—the global migration of cats continues.  One of the most recent developments has been a return to the original wildcat template, with breeders creating spotted  cats not unlike those that 4,000 years ago became the first pet felines. The domestic cat’s extensive travels could be said to have brought it back to its starting point.

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