[5] A significant portion of the population from the district, the Mirpuri diaspora, migrated to the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s and in the early 1960s, mostly to West Yorkshire, East and West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, Peterborough, Derby, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Sheffield, East London and other parts of England.

[7] The city of Mirpur itself was founded in around 1640 AD or 1050 AH by the local Ghakhar chief Miran Shah Ghazi during Mughal rule.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India Provincial Series Kashmir and Jammu (1909) reports that "it is said to have been founded by Miran Shah Ghazi and Sultan Fateh Khan."

With the rise of the Sikh power in the Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh established his position and set his eyes to the north on the Chibh states of Bhimber and Khari Khariyali.

In 1810, a force was sent against Raja Sultan Khan of Bhimber and was met with fierce resistance causing the Sikhs and their Dogra allies to retreat.

Around the same time, Ranjit Singh acquired Gujrat and invaded Khari Khariyali, then ruled by Raja Umar Khan.

Gulab Singh kept on expanding his kingdom, and in 1840 Baltistan was made subject to Jammu while Gilgit fell to a Sikh force from Kashmir in 1842.

Most of the crew on the boats trading up and down the Punjab and Indus River system were drawn from Mirpur, as training as a boat-builder was a necessary prerequisite for becoming a boatman.

[11] During the modern period of the Dogra principality, a British dominion, the thriving river trade diminished due to the construction of railway lines from Bombay and Karachi into the interior of the Punjab.

[12] The city was part of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir led by Maharaja Hari Singh, which chose to remain independent after the Partition of India.

Mirpur lies at the foothills of the Himalayas mountain range of an altitude of 648 metres or 2,126 feet above sea level and is linked with the main Peshawar-Lahore Grand Trunk Road at Dina Tehsil.

The government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir has successfully developed Mirpur industrially and promoted private investment in a diverse economy: foam, polypropylene, synthetic yarn, motorbikes and scooter, textile, vegetable oil (ghee), wood and sawmills, soap, cosmetics, marble, ready-made garments, matches and rosin, turpentine.

[citation needed] Previously, the University of Azad Jammu & Kashmir was the only institution for higher studies but there have been significant changes in the educational infrastructure.

However, since 1947, residents from the neighbouring Rajouri and Poonch districts of the Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir have largely settled in the Mirpur city and the surrounding areas.

Many Hindu and Sikh refugees from the Potohar region of Northern Punjab had taken refuge in Mirpur town, causing the non-Muslim population to increase by 25,000.

The remainder were marched to Alibeg, where a gurdwara was converted into a prison camp, but the raiders killed 20,000 of the captives along the way and abducted 5,000 women.