Formerly there was a village named Maraphari deep in the jungles of Chota Nagpur. The closest village cluster was Chas. Purulia was the closest town and the area was ruled by the Maharaja of Kashipur. Folklore has it that this area came under Mughal rule by the conquests of Man Singh. The region was named ManBhoom after him (VeerBhoom and SinghBhoom are the neighbouring regions also named after him, Veer Man Singh).
This remote place came into prominence when Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru planned to build the first swadeshi steel plant with the help of the Soviets. The proximity to coal, iron ore, manganese, and other raw materials had helped in the selection of this place. The steel plant was incorporated as a limited company on 24 January 1964, and was later merged with SAIL and came to be known as Bokaro Steel Limited (BSL). The late 1960s and early 1970s saw heavy construction of the steel plant as well as the township. The first blast furnace started on 2 October 1972.
The Sector III and Camps I and II were the first to come in the township followed by Sectors II, IX, IV and so on. The first private school came in the form of St. Xavier's School which the Jesuits from Hazaribagh built on invitation from the BSL management. The 1980s saw rapid development of the township with new sectors, schools, parks, zoos and other public amenities. Township development ceased with the completion of IV/F and IV/G. In all Bokaro Steel City consists of 12 sectors (sectors VII and X do not exist).
The late 1990s saw sprucing up of the City Park and creation of islands, new schools and the success of Bokaro's students in all India level competition exams, specially IITs. During this period Bokaro also emerged as the eastern hub for academics. Bokaro has a cosmopolitan culture as the population consists of people from all parts of India
