Gunpowder Mills Begin
First mills recorded near Dimitsana.
Why it matters
The first powder mills prefigure the technical knowledge that later made Dimitsana vital to the Revolution.
Before industrialization, Dimitsana’s watermills processed grain, leather, and cloth. From 1684, locals mastered gunpowder production, crucial during the 1821 Revolution. Led by the Spiliotopoulos brothers, they restored mills and hid supplies in homes, monasteries, and caves. Their work, vital for the rebels, earned Dimitsana lasting fame in Greece’s fight against Ottoman rule.
Dimitsana’s gunpowder story should also be read technically: water-powered installations, local know-how and the Lousios landscape made production possible. Kolokotronis’ famous memory that the fighters had gunpowder because Dimitsana made it became the strongest historical phrase attached to the village.