SHORTLY ABOUT PULA HISTORY!

The history of this city begin with the legend of Argonauts that describe the pursuit of the Colchidians, the ship Argo and the Golden Fleece. After the death of prince, the son of the king of Colchis, the Argonauts decided to settle in the place where the prince had died and do not return in their own country because they  would not be punished for the death of their prince and failure of the quest.
Stradon, the most important geographer of the antic, claims that this is how Pula was founded and according to this legend it was about three thousand years ago.

During the Illirian period begin the development of Pula city and this development culminated during the Roman period.
During this time the official name of the city was Colonia Pietas Iulia. In that time were build in Pula the most important monuments.

The Amphitheatre was built in the 1st century AD during the rule of Emperor Vespasian and with its size being about 130 m x 105 m, and 32 m high is the sixth largest Roman Amphitheatre existing today.

The city was fortified by walls and was entered through some ten gates.
Only three of this gates have been preserved until today: the Triumphal Arch of the Sergi, the Gate of Hercules and the Twin Gates.

The centre of city  was t and still is the Forum square with the Temple of Augustus.
Outside the city gates lay the cemeteries called necropolises.

Under the Eastern Roman Empire the town prospered and was given military importance in the conflicts between the Byzantine army and the Goths.

In the second half of the 6th century the Slavs began their invasion of the Istrian peninsula, and after numerous fights united at numerous epidemics of plague, malaria, typhoid the population declined.

With the development of feudalism and the establishment of city-states on its territory, Istra faced the arrival of Venice and in 1150 Pula swore pact with the Republic of Venice.

During the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries Pula was attacked and conquered by Genoese, Croatian-Hungarian and Habsburg armies, causing the devastation of numerous medieval settlements and villages.

After the revolution in 1848. the Austro-Hungarian Empire realized the importance of Pula's harbour and started an intensive development of a huge naval port and shipyard. After this and after the building of the railway line with Trieste and Rijeka and Dalmatia, Pula taken a new importance.
Under the protectorate of Vienna the official language in Pula was German, but Italian remained the everyday language in use among numerous social classes, while the use of Croatian very soon completely disappeared

Such was the situation during World War II under the fascist rule, when Pula, as an antifascist town, organized its battle for the future.
After the War and German occupation Pula came under the Anglo-American administration and after this a part of Yugoslavian federation. The new page in history of Pula city was open with the independence of State of Croatia and new development and new energy coming from tourism branch of economy.