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The record of archdeacon Thomas, as well as the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja from the 12th century, state that the Croats did not arrive the same way that the Byzantine texts say. Instead, these works claim that the Croats were a group of Slavs that remained after the Goths (under a leader referred to as "Totila") had occupied and pillaged the Roman province of Dalmatia. The Chronicle of Dioclea, on the other hand, speaks of a Gothic invasion (under a leader referred to as "Svevlad", followed by his descendants "Selimir" and "Ostroilo") after which the Slavs merely took over.

A change of leadership was far from a solution to the war with the Turks, in fact, the Ottoman Empire gradually expanded in the 16th century to include most of Slavonia, western Bosnia and Lika.

In the 4th century BC the northern parts of modern-day Croatia were also colonized by the Celts, the Scordisci tribe. Other Celtic peoples may also have been found elsewhere integrated among the Illyrians. The islands of Issa and Pharos as well as the locality of Tragurion became Greek colonies since the same period.

Rapid industrialization and diversification occurred after World War II. Decentralization came in 1965, allowing growth of certain sectors, like the tourist industry. Profits from Croatian industry were used to develop poorer regions in the former Yugoslavia. This, coupled with austerity programs and hyperinflation in the 1980s, led to discontent in both Croatia and Slovenia that fueled the independence movement.

The princes of Bribir from the Šubic family became particularly influential, asserting control over large parts of Dalmatia, Slavonia and Bosnia. Later, however, the Angevines intervened and restored royal power. They also sold the whole of Dalmatia to Venice in 1409.

Most economic indicators remained positive in this period, except for the external debt. The Croatian National Bank had to take steps to curb further growth of indebtedness of local banks with foreign banks (commonly the same foreign banks that own the local ones). The dollar debt figure is quite adversely affected by the EUR/USD ratio — over a third of the increase in debt since 2002 is due to currency value changes.

Following the Battle of Mohács, in 1527 some of the Croatian (and Hungarian) nobles supported Ivan Zapolja, while some preferred suzerainty to the Austrian king Ferdinand of Habsburg. The latter option prevailed by 1540, when Zapolja died.

The governments of Austria and Hungary each tried to colonize Croatia over a period of several centuries: they imposed their languages on the Croatian people and settled many Austrian and Hungarian colonists in Croatia. Croatian romantic nationalism emerged to counteract the non-violent but apparent Germanization and Magyarization.

With the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, its possessions in eastern Adriatic mostly came under the authority of France which passed its rights to Austria the same year. Eight years later they were restored to France as the Illyrian provinces, but won back to the Austrian crown by 1815. Though now part of the same empire, Dalmatia and Istria were part of Cisleithania while Croatia and Slavonia were under Hungary.

The first native Croatian ruler recognized by a pope was Duke Branimir, whom Pope John VIII called dux Chroatorum in 879.

The country was ruled by a ban in the name of the king, elevating that previously existing rank to a position of highest importance in Croatia. A single ban governed all Croatian provinces until 1225, when the authority was split between one ban of The Whole of Slavonia and one ban of Dalmatia and Croatia. The positions were intermittently held by the same person after 1345, and officially merged back into one by 1476.

In February 2005, Croatia implemented the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU and is advancing further towards full EU membership. The country expects some major economic impulses and high growth rates in the following next years (currently Croatia suffers most from its high export deficit and considerable debt).

The book De Administrando Imperio, written in the 10th century, is the most referenced source on the migration of Slavic peoples into southeastern Europe. It states that they migrated first around or before year 600 from the region that is now Galicia and areas of the Pannonian plain, led by the Turkic Avars, to the province of Dalmatia ruled by the Roman Empire.