Vis was inhabited already in Neolithic. In the 4th century B.C., the tyrant of Siracuse, Dionisius the Older, founded the colony Issa on the island. Later, it became an independent city-state, and even forged its own money and founded its own colonies elsewhere.

    In the first century B.C., the island was held by Illyrian tribe of Liburni.

    In the Middle Ages it often changed rulers, and then for a long time it was under Venice. Because of the settlements were formed in the inland: the main settlements Velo Selo.

    Later, the larger settlements developed also on the coat (Komiza and Luka of St. Juraj - present town of Vis). Administratively the island of Vis was for centuries bound to the island of Hvar.