It was created on 14 July 1965 by splitting off the former northern districts of North Hulu Sungai Regency.

The Regency's motto is "Saraba Kawa" (versatile in Banjarese).

The Regency is divided into twelve districts (Indonesian: kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas and population totals from the 2010 Census,[3] and the 2020 Census,[4] together with the official estimates for mid-2023.

[1] The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (a total of 121 rural desa and 10 urban kelurahan), and its postal codes.

(c) including 4 kelurahan - Agung, Hikun, Jangkung and Tanjung.