The district has thousands of years of rich heritage as part of the Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut.

In 1536 Portuguese traders obtained a permit from Sultan Mahmud Shah to trade in this area.

Within a few decades, the town of Hooghly turned into a major commercial centre and the largest port in Bengal.

In 1579–80, Mughal Emperor Akbar gave permission to a Portuguese captain Pedro Tavares to establish a city anywhere in the Bengal province.

The Portuguese traders started slave trading, robbery and converting natives into Christians by pressure.

As a result, Emperor Shah Jahan ordered the then-ruler of Bengal province, Qasim Khan Juvayni, to blockade the city of Hooghly.

Among other European powers that came to Hooghly were the Dutch, the Danish, the British, the French, the Belgians and the Germans.

In 1690 Job Charnock decided to shift the British trading centre from Hooghly-Chinsura to Calcutta.

The reason behind this decision was the strategically safe location of Calcutta and its proximity to the Bay of Bengal.

As a result, trade and commerce in the Bengal province shifted from the town of Hooghly to Calcutta.

After the Battle of Buxar this region was brought under direct British rule until India's independence in 1947.

Dudhpukur, a tank to the north of the Shiva temple is believed to fulfil the prayers of those taking a dip in it.

The month of Sravana (mid-July to mid-August) is seen to be auspicious for Shiva when celebrations are held on each Monday.

The jute mills are along the banks of the river Hooghly in Tribeni, Bhadreswar, Champdani and Sreerampur.

There are 23 police stations, 18 development blocks, 12 municipalities and 207 gram panchayats in this district.

The head quarter of Hooghly Rural Police District was shifted to Kamarkundu under Singur PS from Chinsura.

According to the 2011 census Hooghly district has a population of 5,519,145,[9] roughly equal to the nation of Denmark[10] or the US state of Wisconsin.

At the time of the 2011 census, 87.49% of the population spoke Bengali, 7.59% Hindi, 2.37% Santali and 1.72% Urdu as their first language.