The history of Madhya Pradesh can be divided into three periods - the ancient period, the medieval period and modern period.

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During the ancient period, the region was dominated by the Nanda Empire, the Maurya Empire, and the Gupta Empire.

The medieval period saw the rise of Rajput clans including the Paramara and Chandela clans, the latter is known for constructing the temples of Khajuraho. By the 14th century, the Malwa Sultanate ruled the region.

The modern period in Madhya Pradesh saw the rise of the Mughal Empire, Maratha Empire, and British Empire. The princely states of Gwalior, Indore, and Bhopal, became a part of modern Madhya Pradesh. India gained independence in 1947 from the British, and British influences ceased then. The state of Madhya Pradesh was formed in 1956, and Chhattisgarh was carved out from the state in 2000.

The Bhimbetka caves show evidence of paleolithic settlements in present-day Madhya Pradesh.^[1] Stone Age tools have also been discovered at various places along the Narmada river valley.^[2] Rock shelters with cave paintings, the earliest of which can be dated to 30,000 BCE, have also been discovered at a number of places.^[3] The settlements of humans in present-day Madhya Pradesh developed primarily in the valleys of rivers such as Narmada, Chambal, and Betwa.^[4] Chalcolithic sites of the Malwa culture have been discovered at a number of places including Eran, Kayatha, Maheshwar, Nagda, and Navdatoli.^[2]

During the early Vedic period, the Vindhya mountains formed the southern boundary of the Indo-Aryan territory. Rigveda, the earliest extant Sanskrit text, does not mention the Narmada river. The 4th century BCE grammarian Pāṇini mentions the Avanti janapada in central India. It mentions only one territory lying to the south of Narmada: the Ashmaka.^[4] The Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya names the sixteen mahajanapadas, of which Avanti, Chedi and Vatsa occupied parts of Madhya Pradesh. The Mahavastu mentions another kingdom called Dasharna in the eastern Malwa region. The Pali language Buddhist works mention several important cities in central India, including Ujjeni (Ujjayani), Vedisa (Vidisha) and Mahissati (Mahishmati).^[6]

According to ancient texts, Avanti was ruled successively by the Haihaya dynasty, the Vitihotra dynasty (a branch of the Haihayas) and the Pradyota dynasty. Under the Pradyotas, Avanti became a major power of the Indian subcontinent.^[7] It was later annexed by Shishunaga into the Magadha empire.^[8] The Shishunaga dynasty was overthrown by the Nandas, who were replaced by the Mauryans.^[9]

The city of Ujjain arose as a major center in the second wave of Indian urbanization in the sixth century BC, and served as the chief city of the kingdom of Malwa or Avanti. Further east, the kingdom of Chedi lie in Bundelkhand. Chandragupta Maurya united northern India c. 326-27 BCE, establishing the Maurya Empire (327 to 185 BCE), which included all of modern-day Madhya Pradesh. King Ashoka's wife was said to come from Vidisha- a town north of today's Bhopal. The Maurya Empire went into decline after the death of Ashoka, and Central India was contested among the Sakas, Kushanas, and local dynasties during the 3rd to 1st centuries BCE. Ujjain emerged as the predominant commercial center of western India from the first century BCE, located on the trade routes between the Ganges plain and India's Arabian Sea ports. It was also an important Hindu and Buddhist center. The Satavahana dynasty of the northern Deccan and the Saka dynasty of the Western Satraps fought for the control of Madhya Pradesh during the 1st to 3rd centuries CE.^{[citation needed]}

The south Indian king Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty inflicted a crushing defeat upon the saka rulers and conquered parts of Malwa and Gujarat in the 2nd century CE.^[10]

Northern India was conquered by the Gupta empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, which was India's "classical age". The Parivrajaka and the Uchchhakalpa dynasties ruled as feudatories of the Guptas in Madhya Pradesh. The Vakataka dynasty were the southern neighbors of the Guptas, ruling the northern Deccan plateau from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. These empires collapsed towards the end of the 5th century.

The attacks of the Hephthalites or White Huns brought about the collapse of the Gupta empire, and India broke up into smaller states. A king Yasodharman of Malwa defeated the Huns in 528, ending their expansion. King Harsha of Thanesar reunited northern India for a few decades before his death in 647. Malwa was ruled by the South Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty from the late 8th century to the 10th century.^[12] The Medieval period saw the rise of the Rajput clans, including the Paramaras of Malwa and the Chandelas of Bundelkhand.

The new states of Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, and Bhopal were formed out of the Central India Agency.

In 1956, according to the States Reorganization Act, the states of Madhya Bharat, Vindhya Pradesh, and Bhopal were merged into Madhya Pradesh, and the Marathi-speaking southern region Vidarbha, which included Nagpur, was ceded to Bombay State. Bhopal became the new capital of the state, and Ravishankar Shukla was elected as the first Chief Minister.

In December 1984, the Bhopal disaster killed more than 3,787 people and affected more than 500,000 people. A Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas which led to the worst industrial disaster to date.

In November 2000, as part of the Madhya Pradesh Reorganization Act, the southeastern portion of the state split off to form the new state of Chhattisgarh.

• List of forts in Madhya Pradesh