Soufli

Soufli (Σουφλί) is a town in the Evros regional unit, Greece, notable for the silk industry that flourished there in the 19th century. The town stands on the eastern slope of the twin hill of Prophet Elias, one of the easternmost spurs on the Rhodope Mountains. It is situated in the center of the Evros regional unit, 65 km north of Alexandroupoli and 50 km southwest of Orestiada, on Greek National Road 51/E85 which links Alexandroupoli with Edirne and the Bulgarian border at Ormenio. The town center is only 500m from the Evros River. Soufli is the seat of the municipality of Soufli. Archaeological finds and tombs discovered in the area confirm that a settlement stood on the site during the Hellenistic period. The first recorded mention of Soufli date to ca. 1667, when the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi reported that it was a large village free from taxation. He refers to it by its Turkish name 'Sofulu,' an appellation that probably derives from a nearby dervish monastery. Another version, however, attributes the origins of the name to a Byzantine landowner called 'Souflis'. Beginning in the 19th century, Soufli became an administrative center of a rich province of almost 60,000 inhabitants, extending on both sides of the Evros valley. As one of the few population centers in the region, Soufli became an important trading center. From the records of the Greek Consulate in Adrianople state that in 1858 there was a mutual teaching school in Soufli for which the community put up 6,500 piastres to pay for teachers. Between 1870 and 1880, Soufli developed significantly. The construction of the railway and of the railway station (1872) contributed to its economic development. At the same time, the discovery of a method to fight against the diseases of cocoons by Louis Pasteur contributed to the fast development of sericulture. In 1877, the number of the inhabitants of Soufli is estimated to be around 4,680. By 1900, the population had risen to 10,000 inhabitants, and in 1908 to 12,000–13,000 inhabitants.