It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of the rivers Nederrijn and Sint-Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development.

In Schaarsbergen, twelve grave mounds were found from 2400 BC, which brought the so-called Neolithic Revolution to the area of Arnhem, which meant the rise of the farmers.

The earliest settlement in Arnhem dates from 1500 BC, of which traces have been found on the Hoogkamp, where the Van Goyenstraat is currently located.

In 1233, Count Otto II of Guelders from Zutphen, conferred city rights on the town, which had belonged to the abbey of Prüm, settled in, and fortified it.

After its capture from the Spanish forces by Dutch and English troops in 1585 the city became part of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands.

During the German occupation (World War II), the occupiers operated a subcamp of the Herzogenbusch concentration camp in the city.

[8] During Operation Market Garden (September 1944), the British 1st Airborne Division, under the command of Major-General Roy Urquhart, and the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade were given the task of securing the bridge at Arnhem.

A small element of the British 1st Airborne, the 2nd Parachute Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel John D. Frost, managed to make its way as far as the bridge but was unable to secure both sides.

The British troops encountered stiff resistance from the German 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisions, which had been stationed in and around the city.

A second battle of Arnhem took place in April 1945 when the city was liberated by the British 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division fighting as part of the First Canadian Army.

The city lies approximately 15 kilometers from the border with Germany, and to some extent the westernmost villages in the municipality of Elten, Germany, function as dormitories for people who work in the Dutch city of Arnhem in part due to the immigration of Dutch people from the region that were attracted by the lower house pricing just across the border.

The Grote Kerk (St. Eusebius' Church), built 1452–1560, lost most of its tower during World War II, of which a part has been reconstructed to a modern design and opened in 1964.

The GelreDome, the home of Vitesse Arnhem, the city's Eredivisie team in football, is a unique facility that features a retractable roof and a slide-out grass pitch.

The concept has been fully duplicated since then by the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., and partially by the Sapporo Dome in Japan (which has a sliding pitch but a fixed roof).

However the site was formally adopted and developed from 1993, after the merger of the Dutch National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Nederlandse Sport Federatie (NSF).

In preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in 2011 the facility built a replica of the proposed BMX racing track at the London Velopark venue.

Sport in the city is principally focussed on its association football club Vitesse Arnhem and its stadium the GelreDome built for the UEFA Euro 2000.