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Rab is the ninth-largest island of the Adriatic sea (94 km²). In prehistoric times the Illyrian tribe of the Liburnian settled here. About 400 BC Greek colonists came to island, followed 200 years later by the Romans who built the harbour of 'Arba' for their war ships. From about the 15th century the island belonged to Venice. Between 1813 and 1918 it belonged to Austria as part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia. After the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1918, a dispute over Rab/Arbe arose between Italy and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). The treaty of Rapallo (1921) settled this dispute in favour of the latter.

Rab is believed to be the birthplace of Marino, the legendary founder of the Republic of San Marino.