Teyateyaneng was founded in 1886 as the capital of Berea by then Chief Gabasheane Masupha, one of the sons of the nation's founder King Moshoeshoe I.

The town is the birthplace of many famous Basotho including the late former Prime Minister Dr. Ntsu Mokhehle, renowned musicians Tshepo Tshola and Sechaba 'Fatere' Litabe, and more recently; accomplished broadcasters such as J-Tagg Tsiame.

Teyateyaneng has several retail businesses and carpet-producing and tapestry factories, though with little industrial activity overall, perhaps owing to its close proximity to the larger Maseru.

The town is also surrounded by several rock caves with cave paintings of the Khoi San tribes that once occupied the place centuries ago before the Basotho people migrated south to settle in the Mohokare River valley, before ultimately becoming an organized state with inhabitants going further to occupy the mountainous terrain to the east and the south of what is the present day Lesotho.

The Kome Cave Dwellings were built and protected by Chief Teleka of The Basia (cat) Clan in the early 19th century.

The town is much closer to the country's eastern highlands compared to many of its lowlands neighbours and offers interesting mountain side settlements and cattle posts hiking trails in the east.