The island was populated in prehistory. Constantine Porfirogenet gives it the name Ez in the Tenth century; in middle Ages and later the island was owned by noble families and citizens of Zadar.

The parochial church of St. Peter in Veli Iž has been mentioned since the Fourteenth Century, but hasn’t been conserved in its original shape.  
Conserved are the castle of the family Canagietti from Zadar and the castle of the family Fanfogna which was originally built in Romanic style and subsequently partitioned and made into a school in the Nineteenth century.  

 Above the harbour, on top of the village Mali Iž you can see the pre-Romanic church (dating from the Eleventh century) with a circular shape and an half circled apse; Seventeenth century a rectangular wing was added. Not far from the church you can find a fortified castle.