Kozani (regional unit)

Its climate ranges from continental to mountainous. Kozani has warm to hot summers and cool winters, cooler than Thessaloniki, the mountainous, the western and the eastern portion receives cold winters and features snow. Its sunshine days are days shorter than the south and by the coastline, it is rainier than the south. Temeperatures ranges from 25 to 30 °C (77 to 86 °F) during the summer months.

Kozani was created as a prefecture (Greek: Νομός Κοζάνης) in 1915. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Kozani was created out of the former prefecture Kozani. The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below.[1]

Kozani had three provinces:

• Kozani Province - Kozani
• Eordea Province - Ptolemaida
• Voio Province - Siatista

The area was part of several kingdoms of Upper Macedonia, including the ancient Eordaia and Elimiotis, and it was later part of the kingdom of Macedonia. After the Third Macedonian War it was ruled by the Roman Empire. It later became a part of the Byzantine Empire after the breakup into the West and the East. In the early 14th to the 15th century, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire and lasted until the Balkan Wars of 1913. The Kozani Prefecture was created in 1915 and also included the present Florina, Grevena and the Kastoria regional units.

Refugees from Asia Minor and Pontus during the Greco-Turkish War of 1919 to 1922 brought refugees to the area including Kozani and villages and towns that removed the Turkish population to the country which later became only known as Turkey. The economy boomed and was disrupted later on. After World War II and the Greek Civil War, most of the buildings were repaired. Kozani opened its airport and later its hospital.