The county was established as a shire (the area controlled by a sheriff) in the twelfth century, covering most of the basin of the River Clyde.

The county is more rural in the south where it extends into the hills of the Southern Uplands, and more built-up in the north where it includes much of the Greater Glasgow conurbation, Scotland's largest urban area.

Lanarkshire County Council covered the combined area of the three wards, but excluding the three burghs of Airdrie, Glasgow and Hamilton, which were deemed capable of running their own affairs.

Glasgow was subsequently made a county of itself in 1893, also removing the city from the rest of Lanarkshire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes.

[9][10] In 1975, the county council was abolished under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which established a new system of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts.

Lanarkshire was included within the Strathclyde region, and the county council's former area was divided between seven districts: For lieutenancy purposes, the last Lord Lieutenant of Lanarkshire was made lord-lieutenant for the combined area of the Clydesdale, East Kilbride, Hamilton, Monklands, and Motherwell districts when the reforms came into effect in 1975.

The arms is: Party per chevron gules and argent, two cinquefoils pierced in chief ermine, and in base a man's heart counter-changed.

It is predominantly flat and agricultural, rising to the south with the Lowther Hills of the Southern Uplands, with Culter Fell on the border with Peeblesshire being the highest point at 748 m (2,454 ft).

Other significant settlements include Coatbridge, East Kilbride, Motherwell, Airdrie, Blantyre, Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Wishaw, Bellshill, Strathaven and Carluke.

[18] The resulting boom lasted for over 100 years but reached its peak by the second decade of the twentieth century and even two world wars failed to halt the contraction.

Output in the county continued to fall and the National Coal Board concentrated investment in Ayrshire, Fife and the Lothians.