The voivodeship had its capital in the town of Rawa Mazowiecka, and its origins date back to the second half of the 15th century.

In 1462, after the deaths of local Piast dynasty dukes, Mazovian lands of Rawa and Gostynin were incorporated into the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.

Borders of Rawa Voivodeship remained unchanged for more than 300 years, until the second partition of Poland in 1793, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia.

Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of Rawa Voivodeship: “In the 15th century, the Duchy of Mazovia, ruled by local branch of the Piast dynasty, was divided into three parts, one of which was the Duchy of Rawa (...) On January 1, 1462, Siemowit VI died at the age of eighteen.

The lands were of roughly the same size, and in the mid-16th century, whole voivodeship had 100 Roman Catholic parishes and 15 towns (...) Sejmiks took place at Rawa, Sochaczew and Gąbin, during which two deputies to the Sejm, and two deputies to the Greater Poland Tribunal were elected (...) Rawa Voivodeship shared its coat of arms with Plock Voivodeship”.