 The Croatian name Srimač was used until 1740, but since 1443, the name Murter is also mentioned (Insula mortari, from the words "Mor", sea and "tar", tower).In Roman times, there had been a town called Collentum on the island in the area of today's Gradina, which was also mentioned by Ptolemy.A significant colonisation did not occur before the first half of the 16th century, during the Turkish incursion in Ravni Kotari and the Šibenik coast, and Venetian-Turkish conflicts during the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century.