Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh state lies to the east, and includes the lower portion of the Raichur Doab.

The Vakatakas, who reigned during the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., seem to have held sway over Raichur for sometime, after which it appears to have been included in the Kadamba dominions.

According to an inscription from Aihole, Pulakeshin II having defeated the Pallavas, occupied this area and made it a province in his empire under the governance of his son Adityavarma.

According to an inscription from Manvi taluk, one Jagattunga, a subordinate ruler under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna-II, was ruling the province of Adedore Eradusavirapranta, i.e., the area constituting the present Raichur district.

Nripatunga, a Rashtrakuta king, has described Koppal in his Kannada work, Kavirajamarga, as the great Kopananagara.

Numerous inscriptions of the Western Chalukyas, found in the various parts of the district, testify to the fact that this region was under their sway for a considerable length of time between the 10th and 12th centuries A.D.

It is learnt from an inscription found at Naoli in Lingsugur taluk that during the reign of Chalukya Vikramaditya-V, the Adedore-pranta, i.e., the Raichur region, was being ruled by his younger brother Jagadekamalla-I.

Later, after the fall of the Chalukyas, Raichur passed into the hands of the Kalachuris of Kalyani and later Sevna Yadava kings.

From an inscription on the fort-wall of Raichur, referred to earlier, it is learn that the original fort was built by one Gona Ganna Reddy, a general of the Kakatiya queen Rudramma Devi of Warangal, in 1294 A.D., at the instance of the latter.

Raichur district was passed to Vijayanagara Empire in 1323 after the demise of the Kakatiyas due to invasions of the Sultanate of Delhi.

According to the 2011 census Raichur district has a population of 1,928,812,[4] roughly equal to the nation of Lesotho[5] or the US state of West Virginia.