Brač, one of the jewels of the Adriatic, bears traces of human presence dating back to prehistoric times—most likely the Mesolithic, and certainly the Neolithic, towards the end of the third millennium BC. At that time, it was inhabited by a pre-Indo-European population whose life revolved mainly around livestock breeding. In the second millennium BC, during the era of metal cultures, Indo-European Illyrians settled on the island, skilled herders though less devoted to farming.

The Romans, though they did not establish settlements on Brač, left their mark in the form of rural estates (villa rustica). By the late 8th or early 9th century, the Neretvan Croats arrived, pushing back the Romanised indigenous Illyrian population. During this period, Brač was under Frankish rule, and in the early 11th century, the Venetians occupied it for the first time. By the mid-century, the island became part of the Croatian kingdom under King Petar Krešimir IV.

In the 12th century, while nominally under Byzantine authority, Brač was in practice governed by the Venetians. Under King Coloman, in 1107, it entered the Croatian-Hungarian Kingdom, but its history would be marked by frequent changes of rulers. Venice conquered it in 1135, Byzantium briefly regained it around 1170, and by 1180 it was once again under the Croatian-Hungarian crown. King Andrew II granted the island to the Frankopan princes of Krk.

Soon after, Brač was seized by the pirates of Omiš. The islanders appealed to Venice for protection, which was granted, and on April 1, 1278, Brač came under Venetian rule. This lasted until 1358, when the island rejoined the Croatian-Hungarian Kingdom. Over the following decades, its rulers changed frequently: Bosnian King Tvrtko I in 1390, Croatian-Hungarian King Sigismund in 1394, Hrvoje Vukčić in 1403, and the Republic of Dubrovnik in 1413. Finally, in 1420, the Venetians conquered Brač once again, ruling it for nearly four centuries until the fall of the Republic in 1797.

Although Venice formally respected the island’s communal self-government, in practice it interfered heavily in internal affairs. Customary law was abolished, and a unified legal code was introduced under the supervision of the General Provveditore. Brač’s governors were often impoverished Venetian nobles who came to the island seeking wealth, frequently curtailing local autonomy and acting with arrogance.

When Venice fell, the people of Brač hoped for freedom, but in the same year Austria took control (1797–1805). Under the Treaty of Pressburg in 1805, the island came under French rule, which introduced economic reforms, abolished the nobility, and established schools. The peace was short-lived—by December 1806, Russian forces occupied the island, only to see the French return in 1807. Even then, Brač was not spared turmoil: British warships attacked twice, in 1811 and 1812. In June 1811, a British corvette attacked Bol, destroying ships in the harbour and carrying off a rich cargo of grain, oil, and wine to the island of Vis.

After Napoleon’s fall, on July 7, 1814, Brač again came under Austrian control. In 1823, a new territorial division split the island into seven municipalities, including the municipality of Bol. In the latter half of the 19th century, a period of national awakening began; the struggle for the Croatian language and for unification with the homeland intensified. In 1883, the National Party in Bol gained control of the municipality, and in 1897 the Croatian Reading Room was established.

From December 1, 1918, Bol became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), where national aspirations remained unfulfilled. After the turbulent years of the Second World War, Bol became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, remaining so until the establishment of the independent Republic of Croatia.