It was located in Swabia, the region of southern Germany that was the ancestral home of the House of Hohenzollern, to which the kings of Prussia belonged.

[2] The Hohenzollern Lands lost their separate identity in 1946 when they were made part of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern following World War II.

During the German Revolutions of 1848–1849, when the principalities' future came into question, King Frederick William IV of Prussia was initially reluctant to take them over.

His historian and advisor Rudolf von Stillfried-Rattonitz told him that if he did not, the two Swabian princes "would inevitably have to throw themselves into the arms of the 400-year-old House of Württemberg, … [Prussia's] hereditary enemy", a disgrace that the king could not bear.

In 1918, following World War I, the Hohenzollern Lands became a province of the Free State of Prussia, and their overall status remained unchanged during the life of the Weimar Republic.

The Hohenzollern Lands belonged to the Nazi Gau (territory) of Württemberg-Hohenzollern under Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter (Reich governor) of Württemberg Wilhelm Murr.