A mixture of history and legend, link the Gwadar region with the time of the Prophet Dawood, when people entombed themselves to avoid famine.

Gwadar district, with its 600 kilometers long pristine, blue water coastline and the un-irrigated tracts of Kalanch and Dasht Valleys have always had an important place in Makran's history.

History records that this area was said to be possessed by the great Iranian King Kaus, followed by the mighty Afrasiab of Turan. After these two there is a long list of rulers to the year 325 BC, when Alexander the Great, incidentally found the sea in this area on his way from India to Macedonia and then for 22 years it was under the Macedonian's rule.

Alexander's generals lost it to Chandragupta in 303 BC. Then the tract of Gwadar's history is lost in darkness for centuries.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, Gwadar and the surrounding country fell into the hands of Muscat. The first Afghan War (1838-39) directed attention of the British to the area. Major Goldsmith visited the area in 1861 and an Assistant Political Agent was appointed in Gwadar in 1863.

After partition of the subcontinent in 1958, Gwadar and its surrounding area was reverted back from Muscat to Pakistan and was made a tehsil of Makran district. On 1st July 1977, Gwadar was notified as a district with its headquarters at Gwadar Town.