Tumbes was a populated region well before the Inca Empire. The first settlers were fishers and hunters. Most recent cultures that lived there have left evidence of the refinement in their ceramics, and huacas or ruins that still stand today.

Tumbes was integrated into the Inca Empire during the reign of Sapa Inca Pachacuti. He introduced a new way of organizing the empire, but the task of integration continued during Tupac Inca Yupanqui's reign. He made it a key departure point for his campaign to conquer the Cañaris.

The adventure of the Spanish Conquistadores had its beginning in Tumbes: at Puerto Pizarro Francisco Pizarro and his men landed in search of gold. After overcoming countless difficulties, the conquerors were able to land in the empire of which they had heard many legends. Undoubtedly, the thought of such a rich empire had instilled in their spirit an unwavering will to go on. With the information gathered, the conquerors set off to the rest of the empire, founding cities and overpowering their people.

During colonial times, Tumbes was no more than a crossing point where soldiers and adventurers stopped momentarily to restock themselves, and continue traveling. Tumbes, however, gained permanent importance after Peru's independence; with Ecuador's long-standing territorial claims over the Loreto Region of Peru,Tumbes's closeness to the border exposed it as a resistance point in some episodes of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War. This region's heroic acts of resistance against Ecuador were rewarded by the establishment of Tumbes, a former province of Piura, as a full-fledged Department of Peru.

As part of the decentralization process in Peru, a referendum was held on October 30, 2005 to decide whether the region would merge with the regions of Piura and Lambayeque to create the new Northern Region (Spanish: Región Norte). However, voters in the region voted against the merge