The name "Thane" is said to be derived from Sthan or Sthanaka, the capital of the Shilahara kings of Konkan. It is currently the headquarters of Thane district.

The earliest evidence of Thane appears in the works of the Greek geographer, Ptolemy, who, in his writings (135-150) refers to a place called Chersonesus, which, according to researches, is the area around Thane creek.

Slabs and copper plates dating back to the Middle Ages have also been discovered in Thane.

Venetian traveller Marco Polo also visited Thane in 1290. He describes the city as a great kingdom, which apparently had a well-developed port, for he mentions a continuous traffic of ships, and merchants trading and exporting leather, buckram, cotton, and importing horses.

The Portuguese came to Thane about 1530 and ruled for over 200 years till 1737. Thane was then known as Cacabe de Tana. Work on the Thane Fort began in 1730.

The Marathas, who conquered Bassein and Thane in 1739 and 1737, held sway over the region till 1774, when the British captured the Fort and ruled Thane, then also called Tanna. They made it the headquarters of the district administration with a district collector stationed in Thane. The Thane Municipal Council was formed in 1863 when the city had a population of 9000.

The first railway train in India ran from Bombay VT (Now Mumbai CST, See Mumbai) to Thana in 1853. Thane (or Thana) literally means "station" in Marathi the local language. It was the only railway station besides Victoria Terminus.

After India's independence, Thane grew slowly and became an industrial town in the '60s and '70s. There was also a corresponding growth in trade, transport and construction activities, which picked up tremendously in the '80s. Once considered as the 'ugly twin' of Mumbai, today Thane outshines Mumbai in its planning and neatness. Even as it develops at a fast pace, Thane, also known as the City of Lakes, is still plagued with overcrowding and commuting problems. It features an automatic weather station which is located at VPM'S Polytechnic.