History of Kanker District can be traced back to the stone era. According to the Ramayana and Mahabharata, there was a dense forest area named Dandakaranya and Kanker state belonged to Dandakaranya. According to myths, Kanker was the land of monks. In the 6th century BC, Buddhism prevailed in the region. The ancient history of Kanker District reveals that it always remained an independent state.

Further, history of Kanker District shows that in 106 AD, Kanker state was under the Satvahan dynasty. After Satvahans the state was under the control of Nags, Vakataks and Gupta dynasties time to time. After the Vakataks the Kanker state came under control of Nal dynasty. After the downfall of Nal kings the state was won by famous king Pulkeshin II of Chalukya Dynasty. During his kingdom a lot of temples were constructed in Kanker state. After Pulkeshin, Vikramaditya, Vinayaditya, Vikramaditya II, Kirtiverman II were the other kings who ruled the state up to 788 AD. After Chalukya the state was ruled by several other dynasties up to 1100 AD.

As per the historical accounts, Kanker province was ruled by Som Dynasty from 1125 AD to 1140 AD. Further, after the downfall of Som Dynasty this region was ruled by Kandra Dynasty followed by Chandra Dynasty. According to some historians, Chandra Dynasty was related to Som Dynasty. They ruled the state up to 1802 AD. During the kingdom of Shyam Singh Dev, the last king of Chandra Dynasty, Marathas had started attacks on Kanker and Bastar states. Since, Kanker and Bastar were neighboring states, therefore they affected each other. Marathas won the Kanker state and eventually this province came under the control of British from Marathas. In the year 1882, control of Kanker state was handed over to the commissioner of Raipur.

In the year 1904, Komal Dev became the king of Kanker. He controlled the state with the help of his minister Anand Rao. During his kingdom, several educational institutes and hospitals were established. He established a new town near Kanker named Govindpur. He also tried to make capital Govindpur instead of Kanker. After his death, Bhanupratap Dev became the king. He was the last king of Kanker before independence of India. After the independence of the country, he was elected as the MLA from Kanker constituency twice. In 1999, Kanker was declared as an independent district.