By the 6th century BCE, this area hosted important mahajanapadas like Kosala, Vatsa, Kashi and Panchala. Later it formed a core part of the Mauryan and especially the Gupta Empire, whose original kingdom lay around Prayag and Ayodhya, giving the region a classical “golden age” reputation. Buddhism and Jainism flourished here, with Sarnath and Kushinagar as key sites.
From the 13th century, much of today’s UP was ruled by the Delhi Sultanate, then the Mughals, and later came under Nawabs, Marathas and the British. Under British rule it was organised as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, or simply United Provinces.
After Independence, princely states like Rampur, Benares and Tehri Garhwal were merged, and on 24 January 1950 the province was officially renamed Uttar Pradesh (“northern state”). In 2000, its Himalayan districts were separated to create Uttarakhand, leaving present-day UP as the political, cultural and religious heartland of the Hindi belt.