Milestones
23 + 1 Kavala’s defining moments
KAVALA
13 July, 2020
Tobacco Museum of Kavala, Shutterstock Facts, incidents and dates that defined the history and the identity of Kavala, starting from the Prehistoric era to modern day. Get to know the Blue City and its rich history by looking back at significant moments that shaped its culture.
Tobacco Museum of Kavala Digital Archive
4.000 – 2.000 BC / It is the time period to which the ruins of the oldest human settlement, east of the modern city, date back.
7th century BC / The ancient city of Neapolis is founded by settlers coming from the islands of Thasos and Paros. A century later the city secedes from Thasos.
454-453 BC / Neapolis enters the Athenian Alliance.
49 AD / Apostle Paul disembarks at Neapolis and establishes the first Christian church on European ground, in Philippi}
340 BC / Philip II conquers the city, thus making it a part of the Macedonian state and the main port of Philippi (formerly known as Krinides).
42 BC / The Battle of Philippi. Octavian and Mark Anthony defeat Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Julius Caesar.
8th century / Neapolis is renamed Christopolis.
1185 / The Normans burn down the city.
1391 / The Ottomans destroy the city, which, except for some short intervals, remains under Ottoman rule until 1913.
1520-1530 / The aqueduct (Kamares) is reconstructed.
Tobacco Museum of Kavala Digital Archive
IN THE AREA WAS CULTIVATED THE WORLD’S MOST FRAGRANT TOBACCO, CALLED “BASMAS”. THE EXISTENCE OF THE TOBACCO TRADE SHAPED THE URBAN AESTHETICS OF KAVALA.
15th-16th / The city’s modern name, Kavala, gradually gains ground. Extensive infrastructure works are carried out throughout the city.
1769 / Muhammad Ali Pasha, the reformer of Egypt, is born in Kavala.
1890 / The residence of the Hungarian tobacco merchant Baron Pierre Herzog is built where the Town Hall is housed today.
1896 / The city becomes the stage of the first and largest labour strike in the Balkans. The tobacco workers’ movement is born.
1817-1821 / The Imaret is built by Muhammad Ali Pasha and donated to the city. Until the 1970s it operates as a seminary and charity foundation, and today as a hotel.}
Mid 19th century / Kavala becomes the most important Balkan hub for the processing and trade of tobacco.}
1912-1913 / First occupation of the city by the Bulgarians (Balkan Wars).
1916-1918 / World War I: Second Bulgarian Occupation. Systematic extermination of the Greeks of Kavala. Α’
1922 / Population exchange. Thousands of refugees from Asia Minor and the Black Sea settle in the city. Ανταλλαγή πληθυσμών.
1941-1944 / World War II: Third Bulgarian Occupation. The city’s Jewish population is sent to Treblinka. B’
1957 / The Philippi Festival is inaugurated.
1985 / A devastating fire in the prefecture of Kavala almost reaches the city centre. 100,000 acres of forest are lost. On August 15, alarm sirens sound again for the first time since World War II.
2015 / The Holocaust Memorial is erected in memory of the Jews of Kavala.
2016 / The archaeological site of Philippi enters the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
KAVALA
Special thanks to the Tobacco Museum of Kavala for granting us a concession to use the rare photographs from their Archive and the Museum exhibition and their eagerness to assist us.
