Evros prefecture is crossed by its homonymous river where it used to be called Romvos in ancient times. Evros was the son of Kassandros, the mythical king of Thraki. According to the legend, he did not respond to his stepmother love who finally accused him to his father. Thus, Evros fall in to the river and drowned. After that, Romvos river was renamed to Evros. Evros prefecture was inhabited in the Paleolithic era (10.000 - 7.000 BC).  The first traces of life were found in Ormenio region and represent mastodon paleontological discoveries. In the southern part of the place and more specifically in Rizia and Keramos villages, stone tools by the middle stone age were found too. Various settlements have been also discovered at Makri Cave that was continuously inhabited until the Bronze Age* (3000 – 1.050). During that period, various contacts with people outside Thrace were observed. More specifically, an excavation in Samothraki island (Mikro Vouni area) highlights a commercial contact with Minoans. Moreover, during the Classical period, Aioleis colonized Samothraki island and built the Temple of the Great Gods. That period was also characterized by the formation of organized settlements in the southern coast of the county. Thus, the city state of Samothraki strengthened its commercial relationships to the Thracian hinterland.

The Roman period, that lasted until the 4th century AD, led to the emergence of the Greek character of the local culture. The construction of Egnatia Highway which passed through the prefecture of Evros was an important transportation axis that strengthened the economic, commercial and cultural development of the region. During the Byzantine period, Isaak Komninos the emperor founded the monastery of Panagia Kosmosotira in Feres while during the civil war  (1341-7), Ioannis Katakouzinos crowned emperor in Didimotiho. By the mid of the 18th century the urban Greek population of the region met a continuous growth. Soufli (one of the most important settlements) mirrored that flourishing picture due to increased silk production. In the late 19th and early 20th century the entire region of Thrace, (including Evros prefecture) met the consequences of intra Balkan rivalries and conflicts. Thrace was united with Greece with the signing of the Treaty of Sevres in 1920 after the First World War and a period of inter-Balkan administration.