 During the Edo period, the area of present-day Numata was the center of the Numata Domain, a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate.Modern Numata Town was created within Tone District, Gunma Prefecture on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the municipalities system after the Meiji Restoration.On March 1, 1954, Numata merged with neighboring Tonami, Ikeda, Usune and Kawada villages, and was raised to city status.