During Operation Storm (Oluja), almost all of the Serbs fled or were forced from the town,[5] and after the war they were replaced by Bosnian Croat settlers.

[7] The first traces of human life in the Benkovac area were found around the village of Smilčić that belonged to the Danilo culture.

The Romans mention the following Liburnian settlements: "Nedinum (Nadin), Carinium (Karin), Varvaria (Bribir) and Asseria (Podgrađe).

In 1409 King Ladislaus of Naples sold his rights of Dalmatia to the Republic of Venice and the Benkovac area became a border region.

In October 1683, the population of Venetian Dalmatia, principally Uskoks of Ravni kotari, took arms and together with the rayah (lower class) of the Ottoman frontier regions rose up, taking Skradin, Karin, Vrana, Benkovac and Obrovac.

[citation needed] After the peace agreements in Campo Formio in 1797 and Požun in 1805, Benkovac came under French administration.

During that time the provincial Croatian government continued arming police forces and paramilitaries in villages with ethnic Croat majorities.

[citation needed] In 2004 Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader, together with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Solomon Passy and the President of the Serb National Council Milorad Pupovac visited Serb returnees who left the country in 1995 at the time of the Operation Storm in Donje Biljane and Buković as well as new Croat settlers in the village of Benkovačko Selo.