Turkish Angora

In the 17th century (around 1620), Italian explorer Pietro Della Valle, intrigued by this breed, was the first to describe them. French naturalist Fabri then brought back some specimens from Turkey and thus became the first breeder of the breed in Europe. Contrary to what one might think, this cat does not come only from Turkey: at that time, some also originated from Syria and Iran. It is the subject of scientific description as early as 1756, notably by naturalist Buffon in his Natural History: "The all-white Angora cat with long hair". This cat was then highly appreciated by all European aristocracy and, particularly in France, at court. Richelieu owned fourteen of them, and the kings from Louis XIII to Louis XVI also owned them because these cats represented a luxury object. Marie-Antoinette owned several and sent them to America before being arrested. This is how the breed arrived in the New World and later gave birth to the Maine Coon. Great authors spoke of it: Linnaeus, to distinguish it from the domestic cat and the Chartreux, gave it the name Cattus angorensis. Great painters represented it such as Bachelier or even Courbet in his painter's studio.

In England, this cat was also very popular. In the 19th century, associated with the British, it gave birth to the Persian, to which it transmits the gene responsible for long hair. Unfortunately, it became a victim of the latter's great success. It thus nearly disappeared, and was even on the verge of extinction after World War II. The Turks, worried about seeing the breed disappear, decided to protect it and specimens were housed in the Ankara Zoo. In the mid-20th century, breeders in Europe and the United States decided to import Turkish Angoras from Turkey, where the breed is currently protected. Among these imported cats and ancestors of our Turkish Angoras, we find the cats Yildiz and Yildizcik from the Ankara Zoo. In the 1970s, this breed experienced a real boom. Confirming this, the Cat Fancier Association (CFA) registered the first subjects in 1970 and recognized the breed in 1973, which the International Feline Federation (FIFe) did in 1988. However, this breed remains relatively rare and little known today and is strongly competed by more recent long-haired and semi-long-haired cat breeds from which it is nevertheless the origin: Norwegian, Siberian, Maine Coon, Persian... It is still protected at the Ankara Zoo where specimens can still be seen that are still exported to enrich breeding programs around the world. It should be noted that the Turkish Angora is a breed that was not created by man even if he intervened to improve its characteristics: it is a natural breed.