The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh, which was founded in 1665 by Azam, son of Vikramajit.

Vikramajit was a descendant of Gautam Rajputs of Mehnagar in Pargana Nizamabad who like some of his predecessors had embraced Islam.

[4] After the attack of Chabile Ram, Azmat Khan fled northwards followed by the interior forces.

[6] The soil is fertile, and very highly cultivated, bearing good crops of rice, sugarcane, and wheat and orchards of mango and guava.

[7][8] Summers are long, from early April to October with intervening monsoon seasons, and are also extremely hot, even by South Asian standards.

Winters in Azamgarh see very large diurnal variations, with warm days and downright cold nights.

Fog is common in the winters, while hot dry winds, called loo, blow in the summers.

It has one of the biggest bus depots in eastern Uttar Pradesh and regular bus services to almost all district headquarters of Uttar Pradesh and also to Delhi.A new highway called the 'Purvanchal Expressway' was built in 2021 to directly connect Azamgarh with Lucknow and other important cities.

Notable institutions include: Azmi is a common toponymic surname among Indian Muslims from Azamgarh.