The Tibeto-Burman speaking Pyu were the first historical people to dominate the Dry Zone in central Myanmar that includes Mandalay Region as early as the 1st century AD.

Konbaung dynasty ruled the region until December 1885 when it lost all of Upper Myanmar in the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

The British administration organized seven divisions in Upper Myanmar: Mandalay, Meiktila, Minbu, Sagaing, and the Federated Shan States (North and South).

Much of Upper Myanmar, including Mandalay Division, was under the Japanese rule during World War II between May 1942 and March 1945.

When the country gained independence from the United Kingdom in January 1948, the Myikyina and Bhamo districts were carved out to form Kachin State.

The Mandalay Region Hluttaw have 57 elected members (include one ethnic affairs minister) and 19 military representatives.

In the Mandalay metropolitan area, however, a large community of Chinese, most of whom are recent immigrants from Yunnan, now nearly rival the Bamar population.

However, Mandarin Chinese is increasingly spoken in Mandalay and the northern gem mining town of Mogok.

[10] Minority religious communities include Christians (1.1%), Muslims (3%), and Hindus (0.2%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Mandalay Region's population.

Primary crops grown within Mandalay Region are rice, wheat, maize, peanut, sesame, cotton, legumes, tobacco, chili, and vegetables.

Industry, including alcoholic breweries, textile factories, sugar mills, and gem mines also exists.

The military government spends between 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world.

[13][14] Although health care is nominally free, in reality patients have to pay for medicine and treatment even in public clinics and hospitals.

[1] Since almost all of large public hospitals and private hospitals, and doctors are located in Mandalay, these low numbers for a division with 7.7 million are actually even worse in the rest of the division, though these figures are believed to have improved by the advent of Naypyidaw as the nation's capital in 2006 although the level of improvement remains unreported.

The well-to-do bypass the public health system and go to private clinics in Mandalay or Yangon in order to receive quicker medical attention and high-quality service.