KAVALA

'Kavala' (Greek and Turkish, in Greek also; as 'Kavála', 'Kavalla'), is a town in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala prefecture. It is prettily situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos.

Contents

Subdivisions

History

Twinnings

Postage stamps

Other

Historical population

Notable Figures

References

External links

See also

Subdivisions

★ Center

★ Agia Varvara

★ Agios Athanasios

★ Agios Ioannis

★ Agios Loukas

★ Chilia

★ Kalamitsa

★ Neapoli

★ Panagia

★ Perigiali

★ Potamoudia

★ Profitis Ilias

★ Timios Stavros

★ Vyrona

★ Dexameni

History

It was originally founded by settlers from Paros in about the 6th century BC, who called it 'Neapolis' ("new city"). Neapolis was a town of Macedonia, and the haven of Philippi, from which it was distant 10 M. P. It probably was the same place as 'Datum' (), famous for its gold mines (Herod. ix. 75; comp. Böckh, ''Pub. Econ. of Athens'', pp. 8, 228, trans.), and a seaport, as Strabo (vii. p. 331) intimates: whence the proverb which celebrates Datum for its good things. (Zenob. ''Prov. Graec. Cent.'' iii. 71; Harpocrat. s. v. .) Scylax does, indeed, distinguish between Neapolis and Datum; but, as he adds that the latter was an Athenian colony, which could not have been true of his original Datum, his text is, perhaps, corrupt in this place, as in so many others, and his real meaning may have been that Neapolis was a colony which the Athenians had established at Datum. Zenobius (''l. c.'') and Eustathius (''ad Dionys. Perieg.'' 517) both assert that Datum was a colony of Thasos; which is highly probable, as the Thasians had several colonies on this coast. If Neapolis was a settlement of Athens, its foundation was, it may be inferred, later than that of Amphipolis. Neapolis also minted coins in antiquity.
It became a Roman ''civitas'' in 168 BC, and was a base for Brutus and Cassius in 42 BC, before their defeat in the Battle of Philippi. (Appian, ''B.C.'' iv. 106; Dion Cass. xlvii. 35.) The Apostle Paul landed at Kavala on his first voyage to Europe (Acts, xvi. 11), and in Byzantine times the city was called 'Christoupolis' by the Greeks and 'Morunets' by the local Bulgarians.

Kavala was part of the Ottoman Empire from 1371 to 1912. Mehmet Ali was born here in 1769.
Some of its most recognisable landmarks is a Venetian castle, in the hill of Panagia, and an aqueduct rebuilt by Suleiman II during his reign. The latter still serves today as a symbol of the city.
Theodoros Zagorakis, the captain of the Greece national football team that stunned the football world by winning EURO 2004, is a native of Kavala.

Twinnings

★ - Saint-Étienne, France

★ - Nuremberg, Germany

★ - Gradiška, Bosnia-Herzegovina

Postage stamps

Between 1893 and 1903, the French post office in the city issued its own postage stamps; at first stamps of France overprinted with "Cavalle" and a value in piasters, then in 1902 the French designs inscribed "CAVALLE".

Other

Kavala has schools, lyceums, gymnasia, banks, a post office, a sporting centre and squares (''plateies''). Kavala is one of the largest cities including Heraklio that does not have a train station in Greece.

Historical population

Year	Population	Change	Municipal population	Change	Density
1981	56,705	-	-	-	-
1991	56,571	-136 or -0.24%	60,187	-	-
2001	58,663	+2,092 or +3.69%	63,774	+3,587 or +5.96%	566/km²

Notable Figures

★ Athanasios Benakidis, MD | Cardiologist September 1930, October 1996

★ Despina Vandi, a Greek singer

★ George Georgiadis

★ Muhammad Ali Pasha of Kavala, ruler of Egypt between 1805–1848

★ Nikos Vertis

★ Sofoklis Schortsianitis (b. June 22, 1985), professional basketball player with Olympiakos

★ Theodoros Zagorakis (b. October 27, 1971), captain of the Euro 2004 champions, currently chairman of PAOK.

★ Vasilis Vasilikos (b. November 18, 1934), a Greek writer

★ Zisis Vryzas (b. November 9, 1973), member of the Greece national football team that won Euro 2004, currently playing for PAOK FC

★ Vasilis Karas,a Greek singer

★ the artists Kelekis, Koukmas, Anthakis, Vizovitis, Zaharopoulos.

References

★

External links

★ Mapquest - Kavala, street map not yet available

★ Coordinates:

★ City of Kavala Tourism And Development Enterprise pages

★ Chamber of Kavala

★ The official website of the prefecture of Kavala - online since 1996

★ Kavala's online weather station

★ The official website of the Municipal Association About Touristic Evolvement

★ The official website of Kavala's International Airport 'Megas Alexandros'

★ The official website of Port Organisation of Kavala S.A.

See also

★ Communities of the Kavala prefecture