The area around Zama has been settled since prehistoric times, and Jōmon period remains have been found. The hamlet of "Izama" was a post station on the ancient Tōkaidō road connecting Kyoto with the provinces in the Kantō region, and the area was part of the "tenryō" territory within Sagami Province during the Edo period administered directly by the Tokugawa shogunate through a number of "hatamoto-"class administrators. During the cadastral reforms after the Meiji Restoration in 1889, the area of present-day Zama consisted of five villages in Kōza District, Kanagawa Prefecture.