Named after Anhalt Castle, the ancestral seat of the Ascanian dynasty near Harzgerode, the principality experienced a number of partitions throughout its centuries-long existence.

When Henry died in 1252, his sons divided their heritage, with the younger, Prince Siegfried I receiving the Anhalt-Zerbst territory including Dessau and Köthen.

While George II soon after entered the service of Elector Albrecht Achilles of Brandenburg, Waldemar was able to regain the pawned territory of Hoym and also added Burgscheidungen to his possessions.

Philip died in 1500 and his cousins formally abdicated in 1508 in favour of Waldemar's son and heir Wolfgang, then sole ruler of Anhalt-Köthen.

The partition was consummated until 1606, while the Louis' eldest brother Prince John George I of Anhalt-Dessau formally remained the head of all Anhalt principalities.

Louis turned out to be a capable ruler; in 1617 he founded the literary Fruitbearing Society and became its first president, he worked with Wolfgang Ratke to implement educational reforms and had Schloss Köthen rebuilt.

Also a minor at his father's death, his mother Gisela Agnes acted as regent, supervised by King Frederick I of Prussia.

Leopold came of age in 1715; he was a great patron of the arts, founded the Köthen court orchestra and, in 1717, employed Johann Sebastian Bach as Kapellmeister.

Bach stayed in Köthen until 1723, where he worked with violinist Christian Ferdinand Abel and met with singer Anna Magdalena Wilcke, who became his second wife in 1721.

He was succeeded by his son Augustus Christian, who received parts of the extinct Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1793 and was elevated to a duke (Herzog) by Napoleon in 1806.