Historically, Kalburgi was founded in the 10-11th century. The Kalaharis ruled over this region until the 12th century. Around the end of the 12th century, the Yadavas of Devagiri and the Hoysalas of Dwarasamadra destroyed the supremacy of the Chalukyas and Kalachuris of Kalyani. During 13th century, it was made capital by the Bahmani Sultans made it their capital with a change in the name from Gulbargi to Gulbarga. Gulbarga means garden of roses. The region was ruled over by Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Yadavas of Devagiri and Muslim Sultanate of Delhi. The Bahmani Sultanate was founded in 1347 by Hassan Gangu, who chose Gulbarga as his capital. From 1724 to 1948, it was the under the rule of Nizam of Hyderabad. It was integrated into India in September 1948 and in 1956 excluding two talukas which were annexed to Andhra Pradesh, Gulbarga district became part of new Mysore State.

A number of famous people belong to the district from various fields. Pandurangrao Bhimrao Desai was born in 1910 and died in 1974. He was an Indian epigraphist, historian, and archaeologist. Some of his famous works are ‘History of Vijayanagar Empire’, ‘Corpus of Kannada inscriptions from Hyderabad’, ‘Jainism in South India and some Jaina Inscriptions’ etc. Vittalrao Deulgaonkar was a freedom fighter and a leading lawyer. He also founded Nutan Vidyalaya Education Society, Deulgaonkar in the year 1907.

Geographically, the district has total 10,954 sq. km. and occupies the ranks 2nd in State and 51st in India. It lies at 17°33' N latitude, 76°83' E longitude and 454 m altitude. In the year 2021, there was a total 1.78% forest area of total geographical area. It is bounded by Bijapur district and Solapur district of Maharashtra state on the West, by Bidar district and Osmanabad district of Maharashtra state on the North, by Yadgir district on the South, and by Ranga Reddy district and Medak district of Telangana state on the East. The climate of the district remains pleasant almost throughout the year. Most of its rainfall occurs in the monsoon season. The actual rainfall in the district was 1087.4 mm in the year of 2021-22.

Administrative wise, the district is divided into 7 sub-districts namely Gulbarga, Aland, Afzalpur, Jevargi, Sedam, Chitapur, Chincholi. Moreover, it has 11 towns and 871 villages. Kannada is its official language. The district of Gulbarga came into existence on 1st November, 1956 in the state of Karnataka with an allotted district code of 579. Its district Headquarters is at Gulbarga which is located at a distance of 636 kilometers from the State Capital.

Demographically, the district has a total number of 4,65,245 households with a total population of 25,66,326 including 13,01,755 are males and 12,64,571 are females and causing it to rank 5th in the state and 162nd in India. The density of population of the district is 234 persons per sq km. The sex ratio is pegged at 971 (females per 1000 males) while the child ratio stands at 943 (females per 1000 males). As per 2011 census the percentage of major religions practiced by the people of this region is Hindu at 78.36% and Muslim at 19.99%. The population growth rate during the period 2001 to 2011 was 18.01% including 17.23% were males and 18.82% were females. According to 2011 census, the percentage of the principal languages of the region was Kannada at 65.70%, Urdu at 18.15% and Hindi at 9.24%. In the year 2020 the number of live births in the district was 54,274 out of which 27,828 were males and 26,446 were females. In the same year the number of deaths in the district was 19,354 out of which 12,435 were males and 6,919 were females.

Economically, agriculture is the back bone of the district. It is one of the districts which is receiving the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF). In the year 2019-20 the gross domestic product in the district was Rs. 32,23,436 lakhs at current price and Rs. 22,99,987 lakhs at constant prices in the year 2011-2012. The net domestic product in the district during the period 2019-20 was Rs. 27,89,097 lakh at current price and Rs. 19,45,536 lakh at constant prices in the year 2011-2012. The Per Capita Income or NDDP, At Factor Cost during the period 2019-20 was Rs. 1,00,446 at current price and Rs. 70,066 at constant prices in the year 2011-2012.

Education wise, according to 2011 census, the literacy rate is 64.85% persons out of which 74.38% are males and 55.09% are females. The total literate population of the district is 14,27,368 out of which 8,28,359 are males and 5,99,009 are females. There are two universities in the district namely the Central University of Karnataka and Gulbarga University. Gulbarga has various engineering Colleges, Government Medical College, ESIC Medical College, Medical College, Fine Arts College, several pharmacy colleges and degree colleges. D. A. V. Public School, (Wadi) and Vidya Vardhaka Sangha High School are two famous schools in the district.

The district has various key political personalities. Veerandra Patil (1924-1997) was a senior Indian politician. He became the Chief Minister of Karnataka twice from 1968-1971 and from 1989-1990. Basvaraj Patil Sedam was born on 10th February, 1944 belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a current Member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party Karnataka unit. He was the member of 12th Lok Sabha from Gulbarga. Dharam Singh Narayan Singh (born 25th December 1936) was the 17th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2004 to 2006. He served as a Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for seven times consecutively. He also represented Bidar in the 14th Lok Sabha.

The district has a number of famous historical and religious places to visit. These places are Gulbarga, Sharanbasveshwar Temple, Shri Kshetra Ganagapur, Dattatreya Narasimha Saraswati Temple, Hulakantheshwar Temple, Ghathargi Bhagamma Temple, Khwaja Bande Nawaz Dargah and Sharanabasaveshwar Temple. During the year 2016, there were 4,49,040 domestic tourists who visited above places.