During the British rule, a police station(thana) was established in Patiya in 1845. It was upgraded to an "upazila" in 1984. The region saw revolutionary activities in the 1930s, when revolutionaries from Jugantar and the fugitives of the Chittagong armoury raid fought with British police. During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the area sustained heavy bombings from Pakistan Air Force. The Pakistani occupation army massacred more than 300 Hindus in Muzaffarabad village on 3 May 1971 in collaboration with the Razakars.