Early history for the region is scanty. The
Mauryas were believed to have exercised some control over the region, which was under the control of Kalinga.
Kharavela, who led a Kalinga resurgence, mentioned the territory as
Vidyadhara and used troops for the region in his conquests. The second and third centuries saw Nabarangpur ruled by the
Satavahanas, Ikshavakus and
Vakatakas in succession. However by 350 CE the district was not under the control of any major power, when
Samudragupta led an expedition to the region. However Nabarangpur never came under direct control of the Guptas. In the 4th or 5th century CE the
Nala dynasty, with their headquarters in Pushkari near
Umerkote, took control of the entire Bastar-Koraput region. The ruins of large temples and land grants indicate extensive civilizational development in the area. The Nalas fought several wars with the Vakatakas, the first of which they won handily and the second of which Pushkari was destroyed. Nala power was briefly restored by Skanda Varman, who rebuilt Pushkari, but was soon swept away by the Chalukyas. At the end of the 5th century CE, the Eastern Gangas came to control the area, but this period is little-known. By the middle of the 9th century CE, the territory, known as Trikalinga, was now under the Somvanshi rulers of
South Kosala. In 1023,
Rajendra Chola conquered the entire Bastar-Koraput region, then known as Chakrakota, but was soon beaten back by the Gangas. At this time the
Chindaka Naga dynasty, attested to in the Errakote inscription, established its rule in the region starting in 945. The Telugu Chodas, who accompanied
Vikramaditya VI's expedition to the region, became feudatories to them. Although the dynasty lost strength starting in 1050, descendants of the family continued to rule until the 13th century. They were replaced by the Matsyas, who may have exercised some control over Nabarangpur. In the 14th century, the Silavamshis conquered the region and patronized Jainism and Shaktism. They were later made tributary to the Golconda Sultanate. The modern district of Nabarangpur was under the territory of the Suryavanshi kings of
Jeypore, who were previously feudatories of the
Gajapatis starting in the 15 century CE until the dissolution of the princely state in 1951. When the Gajapatis collapsed in 1541 following the death of
Prataparudra Deva, Vishwanath Dev, ruler of Nandapur and a former feudal lord of Pratap Rudra conquered a large territory that touched
Bengal in the north to river
Godavari in the south and stretched up to
Visakhapatanam in the east till the kingdom of
Bastar in the west. Later, Vikram Dev I (1758-1781 CE) of Jeypore appointed his second son Jagganath Dev as the zamindar of Nowrangpur. The district was thus administered as a part of Koraput. Eventually Nabarangpur subdivision was created in 1941. Nabarangpur played a part in the
freedom movement. Several people from Nabarangpur were the founders of Congress chapter in Koraput. They participated in the civil disobedience movement launched by Gandhi starting in 1942. On 24 August 1942, a crowd of people assembled in Dabugaon to launch a procession to decide the next stage of the freedom movement. At the flooded Turi River near
Papadahandi, the police lathi-charged and fired on the demonstrators, killing 19, injuring 100 and arresting 140. After Independence, the Odisha assembly abolished all zamindaris and estates. As part of this, the undivided Koraput district, which was known as the Jeypore Zamindari, was divided into 10 anchals, 3 of which were Nabarangpur, Borigumma and Umerkote. In 1958, some refugees from East Pakistan were settled in Umerkote subdivision as part of the
Dandakaranya Project. In 1991, Nabarangpur district was carved out of Koraput district. ==Economy==