The earliest settlers on the island were an Illyrian tribe that came to the region in the Bronze Age; traces of their settlement can still be seen around Pag.

[citation needed] Novalja is the successor of a Roman city called Cissa, considered by many scholars to be the seat of an ancient Christian bishopric of that name.

A bishop of Cissa named Vindemius took part in some year between 571 and 577 in a schismatic synod in Grado called by Patriarch Elias of Aquileia.

Arrested by the Exarch of Ravenna he was forced to abjure his views on the controversy of the Three Chapters, but once free from Byzantine Empire control reaffirmed his position and took part in another schismatic synod in 590.

From the 12th to 14th centuries, Novalja, along with other Dalmatian towns and islands, it was fiercely contested between the Republic of Venice and the Croatian-Hungarian rulers.