Karditsa

As for its name, there are different versions to explain its origin. It comes either from the word ‘kariditsa’, which means small walnut, or from the Slavic word ‘gradtitsa’, which means town. Others associate Karditsa with an old town in Kopaida, by the same name.

Encompassing the ancient geographical region of Thessaliotis, one of the four ancient districts of Thessaly, the present day Karditsa regional unit was in the Kingdom of Macedonia and later the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman Empire from the 15th century until 1881 and finally Greece after the liberation of Thessaly. Its economy and agriculture boomed during that period; Karditsa was administered as the Trikala–Karditsa prefecture until 1947. It was affected by World War II and the Greek Civil War which saw many buildings destroyed and inhabitants left homeless and in hiding. The prefecture was later rebuilt and received electricity, appliances and motorised transport, while emigration also began in the 1950s, when construction of Lake Plastiras was added. Television arrived in the 1970s and the 1980s for its villages, and its economy later declined, seeing high unemployment in the prefecture.