People came to southeastern Belarus about 100,000 years ago, during paleolith age. The oldest human settlements on the territory of Belarus (24-22 thousand years BC) were discovered in Gomel region near the villages of Berdyzh (Chechersk district) and Yurovichi (Kalinkovichi district) on the banks of the rivers Sozh and Pripyats. Remains of dwellings made from mammoth bones, fireplaces, stone instruments were found at these sites. The main occupations of the people were hunting and collecting.

Farming and cattle breeding started developing on the territory of Gomel region 4 thousand years ago. There existed intertribal exchange. People started using copper and bronze instruments. In the 7th-6th centuries BC people on the territory of the region learned to make iron instruments. They obtained this metal from marsh ore. Slash farming became the principal occupation. The peoples of Gomel region are described in the works of Roman and Byzantine historians as veneds, ants and sklavins.

The transition from primitive society to feudalism took place in the 1 millenium AD. In the 9th-12th centuries 2 large eastern Slavic tribes, dregovichi and radimichi lived in Gomel region. Their occupations were farming, hunting, cattle breeding, fishing, apiculture, trade, crafts. Dregovichi lived on the territory between the Dnieper, the Berezina and the Pripyat. By the end of the first millenium AD they formed a tribal principality with the center in Turov. Radimichi settled along the Sozh and its tributaries and were relatively independent untill the 10th century.

In the second half of the 13th century - beginning of the 14th century the territory of the modern Gomel region joined the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Belarusian nationality was formed in the 14th-15th centuries. The Belarusian language acquires the status of a state language.

In the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century the region became a point of struggle between Russia and the modern Poland. By 1772 the eastern part of Gomel region was annexed by Russia, by 1793 the western part followed.

Feudal crisis was going on in the region in the 18th century. Active capitalistic development was on the way from the middle of the 19th century. The revolution of 1917 was bloodless in Gomel region. In March 1918 the territory was occupied by German troops. Peaceful life began here in 1920. In the course of the civil war and foreign intervention the production volume in Gomel region dropped 7-fold and made up 14% of the 1913 level.

During the 2nd World War the territory was occupied by German troops from June 1941 till June 1944. During the occupation period 30 thousand civilians were killed, about 5 thousand people were sent to Germany for forced labour.

After the war the region formed a part of Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic. Now it is one of the regions of the independent republic of Belarus.