[2] Kanagawa Prefecture Zama has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall.

The hamlet of "Izama" was a post station on the ancient Tōkaidō road connecting Kyoto with the provinces in the Kantō region, and the area was part of the tenryō territory within Sagami Province during the Edo period administered directly by the Tokugawa shogunate through a number of hatamoto-class administrators.

During the cadastral reforms after the Meiji Restoration in 1889, the area of present-day Zama consisted of five hamlets in Kōza District, Kanagawa Prefecture.

The local economy received a significant boost with the building of a Nissan automobile assembly plant in Zama in 1965, along with other industries.

Zama has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 22 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kanagawa 13th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.