The earliest archaeological signs of modern humans in the area of Mordovia are from the Neolithic era.

The Mordvin tribes were then plunged into a civil war between Purgaz, who was supported by Volga Bulgaria, and Puresh, a Moksha prince backed by Vladimir-Suzdal.

[16] The Principality of Purgaz survived the war with Vladimir-Suzdal, which ended in 1232, and was later subjugated to the Golden Horde as the Mukhsha Ulus.

[17] The Golden Horde disintegrated in the 1430s, which resulted in some Mordvins becoming subjects of the Khanate of Kazan, whereas others were incorporated into Muscovy.

After Ivan IV of Russia annexed the Khanate of Kazan in 1552, the Mordvin lands were subjugated by the Russian monarchy.

The region of modern-day Mordovia was mainly organized as a part of Penza Governorate over the late 18th and the 19th centuries.

In 1925, the Soviet government founded autonomous districts and village councils in the area of the Mordvins.

The city of Saransk is administrated separately from the districts as an urban okrug.The supreme law is the Constitution of the Republic of Mordovia [ru].

Guslyannikov had previously been a senior researcher at the Institute of Power Electronics and was the leader of the republican branch of the Democratic Russia political movement.

Most of the industrial enterprises are located in the capital Saransk, as well as in the towns of Kovylkino and Ruzayevka, and in the urban-type settlements of Chamzinka and Komsomolsky.

The largest companies in the region include Unimilk (branch of Danone Russia), Ruzayevsky Chemical Machine-Building Plant, Mordovcement, Saranskkabel.

The Mordvin people are a Volga Finnic group speaking two related languages, Moksha and Erzya.

In addition, 10% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious", 7% are atheist, and 6.4% follow Buddhism only in the city of Saransk.

The House and Museum of F. Sychkov was opened on March 11, 1970, at Kochelaevo, Kovylkinsky District after a reconstruction.

[29][31] As of 2022, among the prisoners held in Mordovia's penal colonies is Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen accused of spying and sentenced to 16 years.

[32] Mordovia, along with neighbour Chuvashia and Penza Oblast, has given some of the best modern racewalking athletes, both women (Olga Kaniskina, Anisya Kirdyapkina, Elena Lashmanova, Olena Shumkina, Irina Stankina) and men (Sergey Bakulin, Valeriy Borchin, Stanislav Emelyanov, Vladimir Kanaykin, Sergey Kirdyapkin, Sergey Morozov, Denis Nizhegorodov, Roman Rasskazov), apart from Alexei Nemov (see more in the article History of Mordovian sport).

Due to differences in phonology, lexicon, and grammar, Erzya and Moksha are not mutually intelligible, so the Russian language is often used for intergroup communications.