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Vedic period

Mithila first gained prominence after being settled by Indo-Aryan peoples who established the Videha kingdom. During the Later Vedic period (c. 1100–500 BCE), Videha became one of the major political and cultural centers of Ancient India, along with Kuru and Panchala. The kings of the Videha Kingdom were called Janaka's. The Videha Kingdom was later incorporated into the Vajji Confederacy, which had its capital in Vaishali, which is also in Mithila.

Medieval period

From the 11th century to the 20th century, Mithila was ruled by various indigenous dynasties. The first of these was the Karnatas, the Oiniwar Dynasty, and the Khandwala Dynasty, a.k.a. Raj Darbhanga. The rulers of the Oiniwar Dynasty and the Raj Darbhanga were Maithil Brahmins. It was during the reign of the Raj Darbhanga family that the capital of Mithila was shifted to Darbhanga.

Tughlaq had attacked and taken control of Bihar. From the end of the Tughlaq Dynasty until the establishment of the Mughal Empire in 1526, there was anarchy and chaos in the region. Akbar (reigned from 1556 to 1605) realized that taxes from Mithila could only be collected if there was a king who could ensure peace there. The Brahmins were dominant in the Mithila region, and Mithila had Brahmin kings in the past.

Akbar summoned Rajpandit Chandrapati Thakur to Delhi and asked him to name one of his sons who could be made caretaker and tax collector for his lands in Mithila. Chandrapati Thakur named his middle son Mahesh Thakur, and Akbar declared Mahesh Thakur as the caretaker of Mithila on Ram Navami's day in 1557 AD.

Lakshmeshwar Singh (reigned from 1860 to 1898) was the eldest son of Maharaja Maheshwar Singh of Darbhanga. Along with his younger brother, Rameshwar Singh, he received a western education from Government appointed tutors and a traditional Indian education from a Sanskrit Pandit. He spent approximately £300,000 on relief work during the Bihar famine of 1873–74. He constructed hundreds of miles of roads in various parts of the Raj, planting them with tens of thousands of trees to comfort travelers and generate employment for people affected by famine. He constructed iron bridges over all the navigable rivers.

He built, and entirely supported, the first-class Dispensary at Darbhanga, which cost £3400; a similar one at Kharagpur, which cost £3500; and largely contributed to many others.

He built an Anglo-vernacular school for £1490, which he maintained and nearly 30 vernacular schools of different grades. He subsidized a much larger number of educational institutions. He was also one of the founders of the Indian National Congress and one of the main financial contributors thereto. Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh is known for purchasing Lowther Castle for the 1888 Allahabad Congress session when the British denied permission to use any public place. The British Governor commissioned Edward Onslow Ford to make a statue of Lakshmeshwar Singh. This is installed at Dalhousie Square in Kolkata.