In the 3rd century BC, Tragurion was founded by Greek colonistsfrom the island of Vis, and it developed into a major port until the Roman period. The name comes from the Greek "tragos" (male goat). Similarly, the name of the neighbouring island of Bua comes from the Greek "voua" (herd of cattle). The sudden prosperity of Salona deprived Trogir of its importance. During the migration of Slavs the citizens of the destroyed Salona escaped to Trogir. From the 9th century on, Trogir paid tribute to Croatian rulers. The diocese of Trogir was established in the 11th century (abolished in 1828; it is now part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Split-Makarska) and in 1107 it was chartered by the Hungarian-Croatian king Coloman, gaining thus its autonomy as a town.
In 1123 Trogir was conquered and almost completely demolished by the Saracens. However, Trogir recovered in a short period to experience powerful economic prosperity in the 12th and the 13th centuries. In 1242 King B�la IV found refuge there as he fled the Tatars. In the 13th and the 14th centuries, members of the �ubi? family were most frequently elected dukes by the citizens of Trogir; Mladen III (1348), according to the inscription on the sepulchral slab in the Cathedral of Trogir called "the shield of the Croats", was one of the most prominent �ubi?s. In Dalmatian, the city was known as Tragur.
After the War of Chioggia between Genoa and Venice, Chioggia concluded on 14th of March 1381 an alliance with Zadar and Trogir against Venice, and finally Chioggia became better protected by Venice in 1412, because �ibenik became in 1412 the seat of the main customs office and the seat of the salt consumers office with a monopoly on the salt trade in Chioggia and on the whole Adriatic Sea. In 1420 the period of a long-term Venetian rule began.
On the fall of Venice in 1797, Trogir became a part of the Habsburg Empire which ruled over the city until 1918, with the exception of French occupation
