[1] Manatee County is part of the North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Shell middens and other archaeological digs have been conducted throughout the county including at Terra Ceia and at Perico Island.

[4][5] Some historians have suggested that the southern mouth of the Manatee River was the landing site of the De Soto Expedition.

[11] Early settlements included the Manatee Colony led by Colonel Samuel Reid that numbered thirty-one individuals both black and white.

[12] Other prominent early settlers were Joseph and Hector Braden who moved into an area near the Manatee River in 1842.

In 1866, the county seat was moved from the village of Manatee to Pine Level, as a result of a referendum mandated by the Florida Legislature.

[19] Following the Seminole Wars, Manatee County continued to grow both in population and in economic output.

[21] After the outbreak of the American Civil War, Manatee County provided supplies to the Confederate army.

Aside from the Union blockade, the Federal army dispatched raiding parties throughout Florida to further limit the Confederate supply chain.

[23] According to a partial list of soldiers of the Confederate States of America, the county also sent at least 100 of its citizens to fight.

[24] Some of the men from Manatee would be recruited to the 7th Florida Infantry Regiment, which fought as part of the Army of Tennessee.

[26] According to some, following the Civil War, the Confederate Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin, took refuge at the mansion before escaping to England.

[39] The Manatee County Public Library System offers a collection of adult, young adult, and children's materials, as well as a genealogy section and a local history collection in the form of the Eaton Florida History Reading Room.

[1] The libraries also offer author luncheons, children's story times, summer reading programs, job fairs, and book discussion groups.

[43] Library cards are free to those who reside, own property, attend school, or work in Manatee County.

Starting in 2017, the Manatee County library system began offering items including musical instruments, tools, telescopes, binoculars, cake pans, hotspots, and museum passes.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the library system began offering WiFi hotspots to patrons in order to provide internet service remotely to work safely and at home.

The area became a Republican stronghold following World War II and has remained so since: the last Democrat to win Manatee County was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944.

[54] During the peak of the Socialist Party's prominence in the early 20th century, Manatee County would elect the only socialist to the state legislature, Andrew Jackson Pettigrew to the Florida House of Representatives in 1906 for one term defeating John A. Graham (who was a Democrat) in the general election.

[55] In 1970, Governor Claude R. Kirk Jr. fired Manatee County's superintendent along with the entire school board and appointed himself in their place in an attempt to end desegregation busing.