Until 1920, most of the present-day district belonged to the county of Kingdom of Hungary of Hont, apart from Močiar and Podhorie in the north (Tekov) and Kozelník in the east (Zvolen county).
From 1920 until then, the majority of the current district was part of the Kingdom of Hungary's Hont county, with the exceptions being Močiar and Podhorie in the north (Tekov) and Kozelník in the east (Zvolen county).