In terms of the Gokishichidō system, Tanba was one of the provinces of the San'indō circuit.
[3] The Tanba area is rugged, and can be roughly divided into several river basins separated by mountains.
During the late Sengoku period, the province was conquered by Akechi Mitsuhide, and after his defeat by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamasaki in the aftermath of the assassination of Oda Nobunaga, it was governed by a succession of relatives of the Toyotomi clan.
In the Edo Period, Tanba was governed by a mosaic of mostly fudai daimyō domains, who were considered more reliable by the Tokugawa shogunate and who could be called upon when necessary for the defense of Kyoto and Osaka.
[4] Per the early Meiji period Kyudaka kyuryo Torishirabe-chō (旧高旧領取調帳), an official government assessment of the nation’s resources, the province had 970 villages with a total kokudaka of 331,954 koku.