Nabarangpur until recently called as  Nowrangpur. a part of erstwhile Koraput District  ruled by the  Solar Dynasty of Jeypore in the past, was a  grant received from the Maharaja of Jeypore in the year 1820 AD. Remachandra Deo – II, through a permanent settlement, granted the estates of Nowrangpur and Gudari to his brother Narasingh Deo and nephew Krishna Deo to be enjoyed by them and their posterity. Narasingh Deo was succeeded by his son Chaitanya Deo in 1832 and he ruled the estate till his tragic death in 1876. Chaitanya Deo was a benevolent ruler, having adopted populist measures like raising forests, groves, digging wells and tanks and building temples in every part of the estate. After his death, the estate was reclaimed by Maharaja Vikram Deo – III of Jeypore in1896. Out of the three widows of Raja Chaitanya Deo the two surviving widows namely Pappayama and Sulochana, filed an entitlement suit in 1900 with the agent of the Governor of Madras State reclaiming the ruling of the estate. Meanwhile queen Pappayama passed away in 1901 and the decree was passed in favour of queen Sulochana. The Maharaja appealed against this judgement to the Hon’ble High Court. Meanwhile a compromise was effected in 1904 and queen Sulochana was granted  maintenance for life as well as the estates of Nowrangpur and Gudari which was to be reverted back to the Maharaja of Jeypore after her death. Sulochana Patta-Mahadei passed away on 28th March, 1911 and  thus the estates were reclaimed by the Maharaja of Jeypore. It may be recorded here that during the reign of Maharaja Vikram Deo - III (1889 – 1920 ) thebridge over Indravati in the outskirt of Nowrangpur was constructed at a cost of about Four Lakh rupees in 1917 with the Maharaja’s contribution of 40% of the total cost. It provided a far greater benefit to its citizens, having provided a direct link with the rest of the Zamindari of Jeypore and beyond.With the formation of Orissa State on 1st April 1936 Koraput became one of its districts in the beginning with Rayagada and Koraput as its two sub-divisions. For administrative convenience, Nowrangpur sub-division was created on 1st March, 1941 containing Malkangiri and Jeypore taluks.  Kashipur was annexed to Rayagada sub-division separated from Kalahandi District. On the same day two more sub-divisions- Gunupur and Malkangiri were created. Jeypore as the sixth sub-division of the Koraput District was created in 1965 and Nowrangpur though cut to size twice, continued to remain a major sub-division (area wise) in the State. Nevertheless history of these components is inter-wined with the history of Koraput in Orissa, having all links with Vizagpatnam District in the erstwhile Madras Presidency ever since the Britishers ruled India till 1947.

            To bring justice and administration close to the doorsteps of its citizens, Koraput was fragmented into four parts on the auspicious Gandhi Jayanti Day in1992, giving birth to three new Districts, Nowrangpur (now spelt as Nabarangpur), Malkangiri and Rayagada.

Renowned Freedom Fighters- Laxmi Chandra Das, Madhb Pradhani, Simanchal Behera, Late Sadananda Mohanty, Rabi Sing Majhi (Ex-Minister), Sonu Majhi, Annaji Rao, Jagannath  Tripathy, Mohammad Baji, Chaitanya Sethia, Boga Pujari, Budu Amanatya, Kusanath, Amanatya, Khagapati Pujari, Dasarathi Bhotra, Lalit  Pujari, Jagannath Majhi, Gobardhan Bhotra to name a few.