The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office moved to the southern village of Namak in Muan County in 2005 because Gwangju was promoted to a metropolitan city and was independent of South Jeolla Province.

Gwangju was historically recorded as Muju (무주; 武州), in which "Silla merged all of the land to establish the provinces of Gwangju, Ungju, Jeonju, Muju and various counties, plus the southern boundary of Goguryeo and the ancient territories of Silla" in the Samguk sagi.

[citation needed] The modern industry was established in Gwangju with the construction of a railway to Seoul.

[citation needed] In May 1980, peaceful demonstrations took place in Gwangju against Chun Doo-hwan, leader of the military coup d'état of 12 December 1979.

The demonstrations were suppressed by military forces, including elite units of the Special Operations Command.

The situation escalated after a violent crackdown, resulting in the Gwangju Uprising, where civilians raided armories and armed themselves.

By the time the uprising was suppressed 9 days later, many hundreds of civilians and several police forces / soldiers were dead.

[5] Due to a variety of factors, including the ancient rivalry between Baekje and Silla, as well as the biased priority given to the Gyeongsang Province region by political leaders in the 2nd half of the 20th century, Gwangju has a long history of voting for left-leaning politicians[citation needed] and is the main stronghold for the liberal Democratic Party of Korea along with its predecessors, as well as the progressive Justice Party.

Local buses, but not the subway or KTX, connect to the intercity Gwangju Bus Terminal known as U-Square.