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All domestic cats have evolved from the African wildcat. The African wildcat still exists in Africa and other parts of the world. The African wildcat is small in size. He is also lean and very fast. The species of African wildcats can intermate with house cats and are even ok with some human interaction.
Cats began to become domesticated into being the house cats we know today about 4000 years ago in North Africa. Some believe it is the cats themselves that initiated this relationship with humans by going to the Egyptian graneries because it was easier to hunt mice there. The Egyptian people were quite happy to have these new cat hunters keeping their grains safe from rodents. As is widely known cats were very revered during these times by the Egyptian people.
Later the Egyptians traded cats to the Europeans as a way to control rodents. When in Europe the domesticated cat mated with the European wildcat which changed the genetic makeup of the cat and it is believed this is where the pronounced tabby striping was first introduced.
For the last 2500 years house cats have been common in Europe and were well thought of due to their ability to hunt rodents.
Cats were often taken aboard ships because of their ability to hunt and kill rodents and this enabled the domestic house cat to spread all over the world.