Founded in 1995 and owned by photographer and journalist Ivo Pukanić, Nacional quickly gained a reputation for reporting and critical articles about the conservative government led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which was in power during the 1990s.

Nacional was launched in 1995 by Denis Kuljiš, Ivo Pukanić and other prominent journalists dissatisfied with the editorial policies of then popular weekly Globus.

In 2000 Pukanić stepped down as editor-in-chief to oversee the launch of his short-lived daily Republika, which was meant to compete with EPH's Jutarnji list.

Shortly after the 2008 assassination of Ivo Pukanić, the magazine's sales plummeted, and in 2010 it was bought by a Swiss media company owned by Harald von Seefried.

Soon after the acquisition a group of journalists dissatisfied by the new owner's editorial policies left Nacional to found a rival weekly called Aktual, whose first issue was published in June 2011.