Latehar district has been created on 4th April 2001. Previously, it was a subdivision of old Palamau district of Jharkhand State. Latehar district is situated between 84deg. 31 min. East latitude 23 deg. 44.4 sec north latitude.
The geogrophical area of the district is 3651.59 square kilometers. There are 7 (Seven) Development Blocks, namely Latehar, Chandwa, Balumath, Manika, Barwadih, Garu and Mahuadar.
LATEHAR has been named after the village of the same name on Ranchi Daltonganj Road. It is 100 k.m. away by road from Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand. Latehar is famous for its rich natural beauty, forest, forest products and mineral deposits. Latehar remained an integral part of Palamau District as a sub division since 1924.
It got elevated from sub divisional status to a district on 4th April 2001 vide Jharkhand Govt. Notification No 946 dated 04.04.2001. Latehar is located on the north–west corner of Jharkhand in the Palamau Commissionary. It is surrounded by Ranchi, Lohardaga, Gumla, Palamau and Chatra district apart from Chhattisgarh state and situated between 840.31’ East Longitude and 230 44.5’ North Latitude.
It’s a predominantly tribal district with almost 40% of the population belonging to the schedule tribes and more than 66 % of total population comprises SCs and STs. The total area of the district is 3,671 Sq. Km and one of the block headquarters is more than 200 K.M. away from the district headquarters.
There are seven Community Development Blocks in the district within which distantly located villages are scattered amidst the dense forest, hilly terrains and agricultural fields. The number of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is predominantly high here and Latehar comes under Tribal Sub Plan Area.