There are a lot of stories about the beginnings of particular breeds of cats, most of them interlacing with tales about Eastern royal family, or an easy life in a sultan's palace, but because they're undocumented, they're all questionable. Nobody knows for certain where the natural breeds came from, or how they began.
Breed names rarely describe with any accuracy the geographical point of origin of a certain cat. Most of the sensational "thoroughbreds" encountered at cat shows are man-made via genetic breeding. A purebred dog is as it is, purebred, but a purebred cat might be developed from a number
of strains. The primary difference between your cat and a pedigree is that no one kept track of his ancestry, making it impossible to duplicate his strain. Pure-breds are the result of controlled crossbreeding.
New varieties and breeds are always being produced by professional breeders skilled in Mendelian genetics. If a pair of cats of two different varieties are bred, the breeder would know almost unfailingly the amount, sex, coloring, and type of the resulting kittens before they're born. Particular breeds and types are procreated through natural genetics; others are artificially made through skillful out-breeding or crossbreeding. Hence it is possible to get a Himalayan, which is a longhair with Siamese markings, or a Lynx Point Siamese. It is also through out-breeding and discriminating breeding that flaws in the ideal cat's standard are adjusted, like kinks in the tail or crossed eyes.
