Pula tourist information

The city's earliest recorded permanent habitation dates back to the 10th century BC. It was founded by the Illyrian tribe of the Histri, an ancient population that lived in Istria.

Significant Roman settlement (Colonia Pietas Iulia Pola) began in the first century BC. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was ruled by Ostrogoths, Franks, and the Venetians, as each succeeded the other in ruling the region. The first arrival of the Slavs in the environs of the town dates to the 7th century, anyway they never settled the city, that always kept it's italian soul. The history of the city continued to reflect its location and significance, like that of the region, in the redrawing of borders between European powers.

Pula is quoted by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy: "come a Pola, presso del Carnaro ch'Italia chiude e i suoi termini bagna" or "as Pula, along the Quarnero, that marks the end of Italy and bathes its boundaries". Though at Dante's time Italy political unification was merely a dream, this quote is important because it is the first time that the question of the eastern border arises, and supports later justification for Italian claims on the region.

In 1150 Pula swore allegiance to the Republic of Venice, thus becoming a Venetian possession. for centuries thereafter the city's fate and fortunes were tied to those of Venetian power. During the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, Pula was attacked and occupied by the Genoese, a Croatian-Hungarian army and the Habsburgs; several outlying medieval settlements and towns were destroyed. In addition to war, the plague, malaria and typhoid ravaged the city.

With the collapse of Venice in 1797, the city became first a part of the Habsburg Monarchy, then part of the French Empire's puppet Kingdom of Italy in 1805, then directly under the French Empire's Illyrian Provinces. In 1813, Pula and Istria came under the rule of the new Austrian Empire, later the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and was assigned to the Austrian Littoral crown land. During this period, Pula's large natural harbor became the site of Austria's main naval base and a major shipbuilding center. The island of Lussino (Lošinj) to the south of Pula became the summer vacation resort of Austria's Habsburg royal family.

Following the collapse of the Austria-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Pula along with all of Istria became part of Italy. Italian rule lasted until the end of World War II. In this period non-Italian residents were under pressure and many fled the city and Istria altogether.

For a number of years following the war, Pula was administered by the United Nations, including U.S. military forces, as Istria was partitioned into occupation zones until the region became largely united with the rest of Croatia within the Communist Yugoslavia.

When the city was ceded to Yugoslavia, its population was largely made up of ethnic Italians—up to 90 per cent in some accounts, but with the signing of the peace treaty in 1947, most of those who had not already fled after 1945 left. Between December 1946 and September 1947, the city was abandoned by most of its Italian residents.

In 1931 Pula had 41,439 residents, and in 1948 there were only 19 595 residents.

Subsequently, the city's Croatian name of Pula became official. Since the collapse of Yugoslavia, Pula and Istria have remained part of the modern Republic of Croatia.