The term Rohilla first became common in the 17th century, with Rohilla used to refer to the people coming from the land of Roh which is a corruption of Koh meaning mountains (i.e. Kohistan in Persian), which was originally a geographical term that corresponded with the territory from Swat and Bajaur in the north to Sibi in the south, and from Hasan Abdal (Attock) in the east to Kabul and Kandahar in the west.

Rohilkhand lies on the upper Ganges alluvial plain and has an area of about 25,000 square kilometres (9,700 sq mi) (in and around the Bareilly and Moradabad divisions).

The Rohilla Afghan leader Daud Khan led the settlement in the Katehar region in northern India under orders of the Mogul emperor Aurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707) to suppress the Katheria Rajput uprisings.

Aurangzeb was impressed with their performance and an additional force of 25,000 Pashtuns was recruited from modern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan and were given respected positions in the Mogul Army.

Bareilly was made the capital of the Rohilkhand state and it became Pashtun majority city with Gali Nawaban as the main royal street.

Though the Marathas left Rohilkhand hastily due to the arrival of the monsoon, which was difficult for their armies, their threat forced the Rohillas to seek an alliance with the Nawabs of Awadh.

But Hafiz Rahmat Khan refused by sending letters to the Nawab and the British, pleading his inability to pay due to internal strife and discontent among his dependent chiefs.

The whole of Rohilkhand (including Pilibhit and Shahjanpur) was surrendered by Saadat Ali Khan II to the East India Company by the treaty of 10 November 1801.