The Persian cat (), also known as the Persian longhair, is a long-haired breed of cat characterized by a round face and short muzzle. The first documented ancestors of Persian cats were imported into Italy from Persia around 1620. Widely recognized by cat fancy since the late 19th century, Persian cats were first adopted by the British, and later by American breeders after World War II. Some cat fancier organizations' breed standards subsume the Himalayan and Exotic Shorthair as variants of this breed, while others generally treat them as separate breeds. The selective breeding carried out by breeders has allowed the development of a wide variety of coat colors, but has also led to the creation of increasingly flat-faced Persian cats. Favored by fanciers, this head structure can bring with it a number of health problems. As is the case with the Siamese breed, there have been efforts by some breeders to preserve the older type of cat, the traditional breed, having a more pronounced muzzle, which is more popular with the general public. Hereditary polycystic kidney disease is prevalent in the breed, affecting almost half of the population in some countries. In 2021, Persian cats were ranked as the fourth-most popular cat breed in the world according to the Cat Fanciers' Association, an American non-profit cat registry. Origin It is not clear when long-haired cats first appeared, as there are no known long-haired specimens of the African wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic species. The first documented ancestors of the Persian cat were imported from Khorasan, Persia, into the Italian Peninsula in 1620 by Pietro della Valle; and from Angora (now Ankara), Ottoman Turkey, into France by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc at around the same time. The Khorasan cats () were grey-coated while those from Angora were white. From France, they soon reached Great Britain. Recent genetic research indicates that present-day Persian cats are related not to cat breeds from the Near East, but to those from Western Europe, with researchers stating that "Even though the early Persian cat may have in fact originated from Persia, the modern Persian cat has lost its phylogeographical signature". Development Persians and Angoras The first Persian cat was presented at the first organized cat show, in 1871 in the Crystal Palace in London, England, organized by Harrison Weir. As specimens closer to the later established Persian conformation became the more popular types, attempts