References to this portion of the Gangetic Delta in the Puranas, Mahabharata and Raghuvamsa show that it lay between the kingdom of the Suhmas and the Vangas.

[5] From the early eighteenth century, slowly but steadily the East India Company was strengthening their position in Bengal.

Six months after the Battle of Plassey, on 20 December 1757, under the terms of a treaty, the then Nawab of Bengal, Mir Jafar, gave the East India Company the right to enjoy the zamindari of twenty-four parganas in return for an annual rent of 1,200 rupees.

These twenty-four parganas were: (1) Akbarpur, (2) Amirpur, (3) Azimabad, (4) Balia, (5) Baridhari, (6) Basandari, (7) Calcutta, (8) Dakhin Sagar, (9) Garh, (10) Hathiagarh, (11) Ikhtiarpur, (12) Kharijuri, (13) Khaspur, (14) Maidanmal, (15) Magura, (16) Manpur, (17) Mayda, (18) Munragachha, (19) Paikan, (20) Pechakuli, (21) Satal, (22) Shahnagar, (23) Shahpur, and (24) Uttar Pargana.

[8][7] After India's independence, an administrative reform committee in the year 1983 under the Chairmanship of Dr. Ashok Mitra suggested to split the district into two.

The North 24 Parganas district had been formed with five subdivisions namely Barasat Sadar, Bidhannagar, Barrackpore, Bangaon, and Basirhat.

The South 24 Parganas district had been formed with five subdivisions namely Alipore Sadar, Baruipur, Canning, Diamond Harbour, and Kakdwip.