Editing Cuniculture (section)

===Early breeds===
[[Image:Fotothek df tg 0002841 Gastronomie ^ Esskultur ^ Tischsitte ^ Speise ^ Zubereitung.jpg|thumb|left|Illustration of cuts of rabbit meat by Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1657)|245px]]
Rabbits were typically kept as part of the household livestock by peasants and villagers throughout Europe. Husbandry of the rabbits, including collecting weeds and grasses for fodder, typically fell to the children of the household or farmstead. These rabbits were largely 'common' or 'meat' rabbits and not of a particular breed, although regional strains and types did arise. Some of these strains remain as regional breeds, such as the [[Gotland rabbit|Gotland]] of Sweden,<ref name=Whitman/>{{rp|190}} while others, such as the Land Kaninchen, a spotted rabbit of Germany, have become extinct.<ref name=Whitman/>{{rp|15}} Another rabbit type that standardized into a breed was the Brabancon, a meat rabbit of the region of [[Limbourg]] and what is now Belgium. Rabbits of this breed were bred for the [[Ostend]] port market, destined for London markets.<ref name=Whitman/>{{rp|10}} The development of the refrigerated shipping vessels led to the eventual collapse of the European meat rabbit trade, as the over-populated feral rabbits in Australia could now be harvested and sold.<ref>{{cite web|last=Druett|first=Joan|title=Chapter Eight — Living with embarrassment: the rabbit|url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-DruExot-t1-body1-d9.html|work=Exotic Invaders|publisher=New Zealand Electronic Text Collection|access-date=14 October 2012}}</ref> The Brabancon is now considered extinct, although a descendant, the [[Dutch rabbit|Dutch]] breed, remains a popular small rabbit for the pet trade.<ref name=Whitman/>{{rp|9}}

In addition to being harvested for meat, properly prepared rabbit pelts were also an economic factor. Both wild rabbits and domestic rabbit pelts were valued, and it followed that pelts of particular rabbits would be more highly prized. As far back as 1631, price differentials were noted between ordinary rabbit pelts and the pelts of quality 'riche' rabbit in the [[Champagne (province)|Champagne]] region of France. (This regional type would go on to be recognized as the {{lang|fr|Champagne D'Argent}}, the 'silver rabbit of Champagne'.)<ref name=Whitman/>{{rp|68}}

Among the earliest of the commercial breeds was the [[Angora rabbit|Angora]], which some say may have developed in the [[Carpathian Mountains]]. They made their way to England, where during the rule of [[King Henry VIII]], laws banned the exportation of long-haired rabbits as they were a national treasure. In 1723, long haired rabbits were imported to southern France by English sailors, who described the animals as originally coming from the [[Angora, Turkey|Angora region]] of [[Turkey]]. Thus two distinct [[Strain (biology)|strains]] arose, one in France and one in England.<ref name=Whitman/>{{rp|48–49}}