Inhabited since pre-historic times, the area of Skarżysko-Kamienna and Wąchock contains several hundred former Paleolithic sites from 13,000-10,000 years ago, now known as the Rydno Archaeological Reserve.

Sandomierz was mentioned as one of three centers of the Kingdom of Poland, along Kraków and Wrocław, in the early-12th-century Gesta principum Polonorum chronicle.

During World War II, it was occupied by Germany, with the occupiers committing their genocidal policies against Poles and Jews in the region, massacring civilians, including at Skarżysko-Kamienna and Michniów, and operating numerous prisons and forced labour camps.

The Polish resistance movement was active in the region, with the short-lived Republic of Pińczów liberated in 1944.

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 11.6 billion € in 2018, accounting for 2.3% of the Polish economic output.

In Opatów and Sandomierz there are underground tourist routes in historic cellars under the old town market squares.