In the Middle Ages the various names have been Castrum Uvege, Bugia, Bugle, Castrum Bulge. In the 12th century the Arab geographer El Edrisi named it Bug-lah.

Like all other Istrian towns Buje also changed many rulers. After the Romans, the town was ruled by the Byzantine Empire and later on by the Franks.

In 1102 it was donated to the Aquileia Patriarchs by the Istrian Marquis Ulrich II of Weimar and was named Castrum Bulge.

Buje was until 1412 under the Patriarch rule. In the mean time it was named also Bulea and in this three centuries was involved in few local battles as well as living through a short period of being a free municipality.

In 1412 the Venetians conquered Buje and in 1420, after the fall of the Aquileia Patriarchs dominions in Istria, Buje passed definitely to the Venice Republic and remained part of it until its fall 1797.

After the fall of Venice Buje passed to the Austrian Empire and was also for a short period of time under the Napoleonic rule.

In 1815 it again became part of the Austrian Empire that later on transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. After the First World War Buje became part of Italy and after the Second World War, it became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia).

During the Italian Fascist period in Istria many Istrian families suffered from the regime or had to leave Istria.

Fascism in Istria applied various repressive measures mostly towards Slav populations and this created the Antifascist Movement.

The Second World War was a very painful experience for the Istrian population and many innocent Istrians, both Slav and Latin, died during that war.

After the second World War Buje became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia). There were three agreements between Yugoslavia and Italy which established that Istria would become a part of Yugoslavia: Paris Agreement of 1947, London Memorandum of 1954 and the Osimo Agreement reached in 1975.

In the first decade after the Second World War many Istrians, especially those living in towns and villages that for centuries were part of the Venice Republic, decided to leave Istria.

In 1991 with the fall of Yugoslavia and the founding of the Republic of Croatia, the internal republic boundaries were recognised as the state boundaries and Buje is today part of Croatia.

In 2013 Buje became part of the European Union. You can not change the past but you can try to learn from it.

The main aim of the European Union founders was to build a system that could avoid future wars and future refugees in Europe as I explain in COSMOPOLITE.

The whole story is always much longer and complicated but this overview should only serve to introduce the reader in the richness and complexity of the Istrian cultural heritage.

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