Settlement on nearby Cres is known to date back around 12,000 years, and the island of Lo�inj is also thought to have been inhabited since prehistoric times. This is evidenced by hill-forts at the foot of Osor�?ica and around the port of Mali Lo�inj. According to Ptolemy, the Romans called this island Apsorrus, and referred to the islands of Lo�inj and Cres collectively as Apsirtides. In several places, ruins of Roman villas have been excavated (villae rusticae: Liski, Sveti Jakov, and Studen?i? near ?unski). Several small eremitic churches dating from the Roman era have been preserved (St. Lovre? near Osor, and St. James in Sveti Jakov).In the Middle Ages, Lo�inj was the property of the clerical and secular nobility of Osor and unpopulated.
The first evidence of settlers from the mainland was in 1280. Pursuant to a contract with Osor, their settlements gained self-governance in 1389. The name Lo�inj was first mentioned in 1384. Parallel with the gradual decline of Osor from the 15th century onwards, the settlements Veli Lo�inj and Mali Lo�inj played an increasingly important role.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, trade, shipbuilding and seafaring on the island developed more intensely. After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, Lo�inj became part of the Austrian province (crown land) of Istria under the Treaty of Campo Formio. By 1900 the population had reached 11,615. In 1921, it was given as 15,000.
In 1919, Lo�inj, with its partially Italian population, became part of Italy under the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Germain, as confirmed by the 1920 Treaty of Rapallo. It was held by them until 1943 when it was occupied by German Wehrmacht and Croatian troops during World War II as part of the Operational Zone Adriatic Coast. In 1945 the island and the rest of Croatia became part of Yugoslavia, until Croatia declared independence from the Yugoslav Federation in 1991.
The post-Second World War period saw a substantial exodus (see
