The known archaeological history of Mau is about 1500 years old, when the entire area was covered under thick dense forest.

[3] Around 1540–1545, Sher Shah Suri, the emperor who defeated Humayun, during his reign visited Kolhuvavan (Madhuban) to meet the great Sufi saint Syed Ahmad Wadva.

The area also finds place in the historical book of Ziyaudeen Barni with a description that the great Mughal emperor Akbar passed through Mau on his way to Allahabad.

At that time, labourer and artisans originally belonging to Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, who had come with Mughal army settled here permanently.

[5] During the Indian freedom struggle, the people of Mau had given full support to the movement, and Mahatma Gandhi had also made a visit to Doharighat region of the district in 1939.

He is also credited to start an array of developmental activities in the city including new Railway Station and a stadium.

[6] A Passage to India is a 1924 novel by English author E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s.

One of the protagonists, Aziz moved to Mau where he met a school master Cyril Fielding.