Grand Trunk Road passes through the district; it is one of Asia's major trading routes which back at least 2500 years. Fatehpur was mentioned in the
Puranic literature.
Bhitaura, the site of the
sage Bhrigu, was historically an important source of learning. In the ancient times the area was part of
Madhyadesha, and was part of the
Vatsa Mahajanapada with their capital at
Kaushambi, which was monarchical. Their origin is debated, the epics and the Harivamsha record them being descended from a king of Kashi, while the Matsya Purana says that when the Ganga washed away Hastinapur, Nichakshu, 5th in descent from Parikshit, went to live in Kaushambi. During the time of the Buddha the Vatsas were ruled by a king named Udayana. Although there were many kings before him, they were not well-known and there only appear to have been four kings after him. Kshemaka, the last, seems to have seen his kingdom be absorbed into the Nanda Empire in the middle of the fourth century BCE. Afterwards it fell under Maruya rule until the death of Ashoka, when it came under Shunga dynasty rule until 78 BCE. However Shunga rule was never strong, particularly after an invasion by Indo Greeks under Demetrius. The Shungas were replaced by the Kanvas, but their control over the region lasted only a few decades until 30 BCE. After the Kanva period, little is known about the region's history until the Gupta period. It may have been part of the Kushan Empire under
Kanishka and remained under their rule until the death of the king
Vasudeva. After the weakening of Kushan rule, the Maghas became powerful in the district and coins from their rule have been found in Fatehpur district. Bhadramagha, the grandson of the family's founder Bhimasena, seems to have wrested Kaushambi from Kushana control in around 175 CE, and ruled until 184 CE. Inscriptions and coins indicate his successors expanded the Magha domain to cover much of the Prayagraj region and Baghelkhand. The last of these rulers named in coins were Satamagha and Vijaymagha. The people of the district took part in the Freedom Struggle, with notable poets like
Sohan Lal Dwivedi and
Shyamlal Gupta inspiring patroitic compositions. The non-cooperation movement also took place in the district. ==Geography==