Located just above the confluence of the Yamuna and Betwa rivers, it is the administrative headquarters of Hamirpur district.

[5]: 267  It is wedged snugly between the Yamuna and Betwa rivers, just west of their confluence.

Hamirpur was important enough in the late 1500s to be the seat of a mahal, which the Ain-i-Akbari lists as part of sarkar Kalpi.

[6]: 171–2 In 1823, the British moved their collectorate headquarters for northern Bundelkhand from Kalpi to Hamirpur.

The town's main market, Sophiganj, was founded by a British officer in 1830 and named after his daughter.