The ancient name Arba, Arva, Arbia (mentioned by Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder, and in Tabula Peutingeriana) derives probably from the Illyrian Arb, meaning dark, green, forested, which is a chief feature of the island even today. In the 10th century the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus calls it Arbe, the form later taken over by the Italian language. The Croatian name Rab was first mentioned in 1446, in a document on the establishment of the Franciscan monastery of St. Euphemia in Kampor.
Under the rule of Emperor August Rab became a Roman municipality. Already in the 5th century Rab was the seat of the diocese. Croats inhabited Rab some time later than the other islands because they had to conquer a well-organised local Roman community.
At the beginning of the 11th century Rab fell under the rule of Venice for a short period, and then joined Croatia. At the time, a free urban commune was established, a pol-itical form which rendered the town and the island peace and economic boom till 1409, after which the almost 400-year long rule of Venice followed.
Fragments of the Statues from the 14th century, containing interesting political, communal and economic regulations. The diocese was abolished in 1828. Rab started to recover economically not before the first decades of the 20th century, when it became a climatic and summer resort