Domestic cats have lived with humans for thousands of years, at least in Asia, Africa and Europe. In the Americas, however, rich in species of wild felines, cats have only arrived in the last centuries, brought to the continent by European settlers.
The test? On a ship commanded by a Spanish admiral, and sunk off the coast of Florida in the 16th century, we found the remains of those that could be The first domestic cats never arrived in America. This is told by a study by the Arizona State Museum, published on American Antiquity.
He sinks the fleet. The study focused on the wreck of a Spanish galleon, identified with the acronym EP2. It was one of the 11 ships of the Tristán de Arellano fleet, which in 1559 stationed in the Bay of Pensacola, off the future Florida, in order to establish one of the first European permanent settlements in American territory.
The fleet of Arellano was however swept away by a very strong hurricane which, in September 1559, sank 6 of the 11 ships (another was even dragged on the beach, “A stone’s throw from the settlement” It reads in the study). The sinked galleons have been studied since the nineties of the last century, and the last analysis has revealed The presence of two domestic cats on board of Ep2.
Great workers. According to the study, the cats lived on the ship to hunt mice, but also to keep the sailors company: a feline bone analysis has shown that they were treated well: fed with fresh fish, pig, chicken or beef. They were therefore not on board to be eatena practice that at the time was widespread, but to “work” – and be rewarded.
Cats in America. The study also explains that, if it is true that the two cats are the oldest we have ever found in America, It is not said they were really the first: in the Caribbean there is evidence (even if not definitive) of the presence of felines in the first Spanish settlementspreceding those of Florida. It is possible that the first to bring cats to America was even Columbus, “Even if in his travel stories they are never mentioned”.
