The origin and domestication of cats

Many argue that the first cats were tamed and domesticated by the ancient Egyptians, but there is no general opinion on this matter. It is believed that the history of the appearance of cats next to a man begins about 10-12 thousand years ago and is related to the fact that these animals became close to people since the latter began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. This, by the way, makes cats just unique among all animals, many of which are still trying to stay away from people.
A lot of controversy is also the history of the origin of cats, which is also very ambiguous. The most common opinion, which, by the way, is especially stuck in Russia, is that the common Asian ancestor of modern cats is the North Asian steppe cat, which was domesticated not in Egypt, but in Nubia, and it happened about 4 thousand years ago. Only after that the cats came to Egypt, and then appeared in Asia, where they successfully crossed with forest Bengali species.
In Europe, the cat’s origin is also associated with multiple mixing of species and breeds: domestic cats that arrived from Nubia, actively crossed with wild European forest cats, which subsequently gave an incredible variety of breeds and colors. However, according to a separate theory of the origin of cats, no one deliberately delivered these animals to any of the countries: just cats simultaneously appeared in different places of the planet, in each of which they developed according to their own special laws.
The story of the domestication of cats: the millennia near man
If the history of the emergence of these animals is quite confusing, then the history of domestication of cats is even more mysterious. Most likely, the first domestication of cats took place in the Middle East and was associated with the emergence of agriculture and the need to protect the crop from rodents. However, scientists are still arguing over who, in fact, has tamed whom is a man a cat or a cat of a man. It is quite possible that the cat “got domesticated” by itself, hunting rodents and relentlessly following people who quickly accepted these animals into their lives.
Whatever it was, the story of the domestication of cats takes its approximate beginning 2,000 years BC. The main merit in this is attributed to the Egyptians, who helped including the cat, including religion. However, the most active domestication began all the same later and was associated with the heyday of many civilizations, which began 1000 years before our era. It was then that the cats finally formed changes in behavior, which finally made them pets, and Europe put the final point in the taming. Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Britain consistently adopted domestic cats within their borders, actively settling them in the homes of their citizens and placing special hopes on them in the struggle for the harvest.
However, despite this, the final point in the domestication of cats has not yet been set. Of course, this animal is considered one of the closest to man, but its independent character proves that even after many thousands of years of their domestication, cats have remained free and not conquered, and their life alongside people can still be considered a great gift for the latter.