Ištuanda was located in northern Cappadocia, in the northwestern part of the Tabalian region close to the kingdom of Atuna and near what is presently Aksaray.

[4][5][6] The territory that later became Ištuanda might have corresponded to the region which was referred to in Hittite texts from the Late Bronze Age as Wašuduwanda (𒌷𒉿𒋗𒁺𒉿𒀭𒁕[7]),[4] which was the site of a shrine to the goddess Ḫepat.

[8] By c. 738 BC, the Tabalian region, including Ištuanda, had become a tributary of the Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, possibly after his conquest of Arpad over the course of 743 to 740 BC caused the states of the Tabalian region to submit to him, or possibly as a result of a campaign of Tiglath-pileser III in Tabal.

[9][10][11] Consequently, in 738 and 732 BCE, the king Tuḫamme of Ištuanda was one of the five rulers of the Tabalian region who paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser III.

[4][5] Around c. 710 BCE, Ištuanda and the nearby Tabalian state of Atuna jointly attacked and occupied some of the cities of Bīt-Burutaš which the Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II had handed over to his loyal vassal, the king Warpalawas II of Tuwana.