Kavala is an important economic centre of Northern Greece, a center of commerce, tourism, fishing and oil-related activities and formerly a thriving trade in tobacco.

It was one of several Thassian colonies along the coastline, all founded in order to take advantage of rich gold and silver mines, especially those located in the nearby Pangaion mountain (which were eventually exploited by Phillip II of Macedonia).

At the end of the 6th century BC Neapolis claimed independence from Thassos and began issuing its own silver coins with the head of Gorgo (γοργὀνειο) on one side.

In 411 BC, during the Peloponnesian War, Neapolis was besieged by the allied armies of the Spartans and the Thassians but remained faithful to Athens.

[5]In the 6th century, Byzantine emperor Justinian I, an Illyrian from Taor, Dardania (Procopius), fortified the city in an effort to protect it from barbarian raids.

In the 8th and 9th centuries, Bulgarian attacks forced the Byzantines to reorganise the defence of the area, giving great care to Christoupolis with fortifications and a notable garrison.

In the mid of the 12th century the Arab geographer Edrisi visited Christoupolis and described it as a well fortified city and a center of sea trade.

Some years later, the city fell to the hands of the Lombards, after the Fourth Crusade and was liberated again by the leader of the state of Epirus, Theodorus Komnenos, in 1225.

In order to prevent them from coming back, the Byzantine emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos built a new long defensive wall.

These events provoked a military revolt in Thessaloniki, which led to the establishment of the Provisional Government of National Defence, and eventually Greece's entry into the First World War.

Hundreds of victims and eye-witnesses testified about the Bulgarian atrocities in the post-war inter-Allied interrogatory committee, which finally gave its report on 21 April 1919, after in situ examination of the circumstances.

[8] After the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, the city entered a new era of prosperity because of the labor offered by the thousands of refugees that moved to the area from Anatolia.

[citation needed] During the Second World War and after the Battle of Greece, Bulgaria occupied the city again, following the German invasion (April 1941).

During the Bulgarian occupation (1941–1944), almost the entire Jewish community of the city was deported, turned over to German authorities and exterminated in the Treblinka death camp as part of the Holocaust.

In 1967, King Constantine II left Athens for Kavala in an unsuccessful attempt to launch a counter-coup against the military junta.

The Ukrainian-registered Antonov An-12BK was carrying 11.5 tons of ammunition from Niš to Dhaka when the plane began to lose altitude over the Aegean and turned around, but went down 35 kilometers west of Kavala Airport.

Some of the most important communities inside new municipality are: Kavala is built amphitheatrically, with most residents enjoying superb views of the coast and sea.

"Cosmopolis" is an international festival held in the Old Town of Kavala that offers an acquaintance with cultures around the world through dancing and musical groups, traditional national cuisines, cinema, and exhibits at the kiosks of participant countries.

It includes live bands and DJ sets, body&mind activities, a book fair, outdoor theatre, ecology, camping, and debates.

Fish and seafood, as well as the products of the local livestock breeding and agricultural sectors, are the prevailing elements of Kavala cuisine.

Fresh fish and seafood, especially sardines, shrimp salad (garidosalata), mackerel "goúna" (sun-dried mackerel on the grill), kavouropilafo, mussels with rice, herring saganáki, anchovies wrapped in grape leaves, stuffed eggplants and from meat plates, lamb with spinach, are some renowned recipes in Kavala and the coastal settlements of the region.

The grapes, wine, and tsipouro produced in the area, as well as the kourabiedes (sugar-coated almond biscuits) from Nea Karvali, are particularly famous.

However, plans exist to build a new Thessaloniki–Xanthi rail line via Kavala, as part of the Egnatia Railway corridor, at a cost of €1.25 billion.

[28] In 2019, Hellenic Railways Organisation awarded the contract to build the initial 31.8 km (19.8 mi) section between Xanthi and Kavala at a cost of €250 million.

[30][31] Neapolis was important enough in the Late Roman province of Macedonia Prima to be a suffragan of its capital Philippi's Metropolitan Archbishopric into the frames of the Greek - Christian eastern church.

After the liberation of the city of Kavala by the Greek army during the Balkan Wars, the local church was re-established under the official title "Metropolis of Philippi, Neapolis and Thasos" till nowadays.