The special variety of mango, Fazli, produced in this region is popularly known by the name of the district and is exported across the world and is internationally acclaimed.

According to the National Investigation Agency Malda is believed to be a hub of a fake currency racket.

Old Malda, the town which lies just east of the confluence of the Mahananda and Kalindi rivers, is part of the English Bazar metropolitan city.

The area between the historical monument of Jame Masjid (1566) and the landmark of Nimasarai Tower across the river Mahananda, constituted a municipality in 1867.

These two cities had been the capital of Bengal in ancient and medieval ages and are equidistant, north and south, from English Bazar town (once known as Engelzavad established by the British rulers).

The boundary of Gour was changed in different ages since the fifth century BC, and its name can be found in Puranic texts.

Gour and Pundravardhana formed parts of the Mourya empire as is evinced from the inscriptions, Brahmi script on a seal discovered from the ruins of Mahasthangarh in the Bogra District of Bangladesh.

The inscriptions discovered in the district of undivided Dinajpur and other parts of North Bengal, along with the Allahabad pillar inscriptions of Samudragupta, clearly indicate that the whole of North Bengal as far east as Kamrup formed a part of the Gupta Empire.

It was during their reign that the Jagadalla Vihara (monastery) in Barindri flourished paralleling with Nalanda, Vikramshila and Devikot.

King Lakshman Sen defeated Khilji in battle and successfully resisted Turkic invasion in his empire.

Afghan warrior Sher Shah Suri conquered Gour[9] and was repelled by Mughal emperor Humayun.

Firuz Shah Tughlaq, Ghiyasuddin and the Mughal army invaded Gour to suppress rebellion several times.

In 1813, in consequence of the prevalence of serious crimes in the Kaliachak and Sahebganj thanas and also on the rivers, a Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector were appointed at English Bazar, with jurisdiction over a number of police stations centering that place and taken from the two districts.

Between 12–15 August 1947, the fate of the district as to which side it should go, to Pakistan or to India, was undecided because the announcement of the partition award of Cyril Radcliffe did not make this point clear.

During these few days, the district was under a Magistrate of East Pakistan due to Muslim majority (1941 British India census).

It was once the capital of Gour-Banga with its 3,733 square kilometres (1,441 sq mi) lay of the land classified into Tal, Diara, and Barind.

Majumdar was a great scholar and his literary sense was appreciated by Benoy Kumar Sarkar and Radhesh Chandra Seth.

In this endeavour, the editor was greatly supported by them and financed by Sarat Chandra Roy Chowdhury, Maharaja of Chancal.

Moreover, Lalbihari Majumdar, its editor, took a pioneering role in organising the congress movement in Malda.

Historians like Tanika Sarkar observes Jitu's movement was rooted in the rich tradition of tribal struggle in Malda.

M.O Carter mentions cases were commonly found in which the lands cultivated by the adhiars, which were previously their occupancy holdings but had been sold up in rent or mortgage sales.

The gravity of the situation compelled Mr. Vas, the District Magistrate, to interfere and fix the rent.

In the same year 'Jitu's Sanyasi Dal' defied police order to perform a Kali puja to assert its new Hindu status.

In September 1928 Santhals under Jitu's leadership looted the autumn crop of Sikharpur which had recently been taken away from them in barind region.

[12] In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Malda one of the country's 283 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).

There are 12 police stations,[16] 15 development blocks, 2 municipalities, 146 gram panchayats and 3,701 villages in this district.

According to the 2011 census Malda district has a population of 3,988,845,[20] roughly equal to the nation of Liberia[21] or the US state of Oregon.

People of various classes and tribes like Polia, Shershabadia, Khotta, Panjhra, Chain Mondal, Rajbanshi, and Santhal inhabit the district.

[26] Khotta, Santali, Maithili and Hindi languages are also spoken by some minority population throughout the district.