History of the island of Pag
Traces of life on the island of Pag reach far into the past. The coast and the islands were inhabited during the early stone age, which is witnessed the archaeological findings from the time when stone was both a tool and a weapon.
The first inhabitants of the island of Pag which are known by name were Illyrians. On the north of Dalmatia, as well as on the island of Pag, there were Liburnians. There were remains of Liburnian structures found on the island, as well as fortified settlements, necropolis and numerous stone mounds.
The importance of the location of the island of Pag was noticed by Roman conquerors as well, under whom the entire Liburnia served at the beginning of AD.
The island of Pag – It is first mentioned in writing by a Roman geographer Plinije Senior in the 1st century. It was then called Cissa, by the main town where today there are Novalja and Caska. During the big earthquake in 361, the Roman settlement in the area of today’s Caska was destroyed and mostly sunk into the sea. After the earthquake, Navalia (at the spot of today's Novalja) kept developing and it became the centre of the island of Pag. It is witnessed by the remains of a big town basilica, monument reliquary and a Roman underground waterline («Italian buža»).
The island of Pag was inhabited by Croatians soon after they came to the sea, which is best seen by old Slavic names of southern islands: Dinjiška, Stara Vasa and Vlašići. Since the 9th century, the Croatian state becomes stronger, neighbouring Nin is one of its centres, and so the island is a part of the state as well. The charter from 1071 by the King Petar Krešimir IV in which he puts the middle and the north part of the island under the jurisdiction of Rab bishop, and the south part of the island under Nin bishop will have far-reaching consequences for the entire island. With this division, Pag was drawn into centuries of conflict for power between Zadar and Rab. During one conflict, Navalia and middle age Kissa were destroyed, and since the 14th century, the settlement of Novalja is mentioned. Since then, Novalja loses importance, and in the south of the island, the town of Pag was developing, and it soon becomes the centre of the island.
During Venetian Republic, the northwest part of the island of Pag comes under Rab administration and becomes a Rab possession without any rights, and the town of Pag develops in the southern part as a free King town. King Ladislav sells to Venetia his part of Dalmatia in 1403, including the town of Pag.
In 1433, the town of Pag gets a Town Statute, one of the first documents of its kind in Croatia. In the middle part of the 15th century, the danger from Turks was growing, and so people of Pag started building a new town on May 18, 1443, at the place at which it is today.
Urban solutions of the new town respected the principles of architecture and urbanism during that time, and the plans were made in Venetia. Juraj Matejev Dalmatinac, a great architect and sculptor, participated in the making of urban plans. The Pag inhabitants moved into the new town on September 18, 1474.
Despite moving, they did not forget the old town. In 1589, Franciscans build their monastery there. The monastery remains are visible today.
During the Habsburg monarchy, the island of Pag finally becomes an administrative whole, and there is a certain economic progress. There is construction of roads, waterfronts and ports.
At the end of the 19th century, the National Party of Pag replaced Autonomists in the town council, and with that, Croatian became official school and office language.
At the beginning of the 20th century, after the phylloxera disease destroyed grapevines throughout Dalmatia, including the island of Pag, there was a great emigration of the population to the USA, Canada and Austria. During the 1930s, because of the agrarian reform, there is a restructuring of property and so the economic strength of noblemen in Pag weakens, and they start leaving.
Inhabitants of the northwestern part of the island, not satisfied within the municipality, started asking for their own municipality, which they get in 1924, but only until 1955, when Novalja again becomes part of the municipality. In 1960s, tourism starts developing more intensively.
Tourism, as a new economic branch, helps general development, and so the whole island of Pag develops and there are beaches, roads, hotels and restaurants.
After the independence of the Republic of Croatia, Novalja gets its own municipality again, and soon it gets the status of a town and it becomes the most developed place on the island of Pag.
