[2] Per Japanese census data,[4] the population of Matsuyama grew steadily throughout the 20th century but has plateaued in the 21st and declined somewhat in the 2010s.

Dōgo Onsen was already famous in the Asuka period, and Shōtoku Taishi visited the spa in the year 596.

At the end of the Heian period, Kōno Michinobu supported Minamoto no Yoritomo against the Heike clan during the Genpei War and was awarded with a position as shugo of Iyo Province.

In the Muromachi period, the clan made their stronghold at Yuzuki Castle, near Dōgo Onsen, and developed the port of Mitsuhama to the west to link the area to Honshū and Kyūshū.

The clan was conquered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi during his invasion of Shikoku, and later the area became part of Iyo-Matsuyama Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate.

In the twentieth century, various mergers joined Matsuyama with neighboring towns of Dōgo, Mitsuhama, and other townships, aided by urban sprawl, creating a seamless modern city that now ranks as the largest in Shikoku.

Matsuyama has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 42 members.

Industrial areas spread along the coast near airports and harbors, including the Teijin Group's largest production base, and factories of Miura (boiler manufacturer), Iseki (tractor and engine equipment),[5] Hatada Ichiroku (Japanese style confectionery), Poem, a food processing division of Pom (Ehime Drink Company), and the retailing companies Fuji and Daiki all have their headquarters in Matsuyama.

Buddhist temples in Matsuyama include Ishite-ji (石手寺), Taisan-ji (太山寺), and Jōdo-ji (浄土寺), all dating back to the 8th century, although the oldest surviving buildings are from the early 14th century, as well as Hōgon-ji (宝厳寺), Taihō-ji (大宝寺) and Enmyō-ji (円明寺).

Other haiku poets associated with Matsuyama include Kurita Chodō, whose Kōshin-an was visited by Kobayashi Issa, Shiki's followers, Takahama Kyoshi and Kawahigashi Hekigoto, and Taneda Santōka.

Recipients have included Yves Bonnefoy (2000), Cor van den Heuvel (2002) and Gary Snyder (2004).

Matsuyama also figures in several works by Shiba Ryōtarō, notably his popular novel, Saka no Ue no Kumo [Clouds Above the Hill] (1969).

Matsuyama was also the setting of a 1907 novel about the Russo-Japanese War, As the Hague Ordains, by American writer Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore.

The Ehime Mandarin Pirates also represent the city in the baseball Shikoku Island League Plus.