Berar and the Nagpur plain fell to the Marathas, and one of the most important Maratha States, the Bhonsla kingdom, had its capital at Nagpur.

Cultivators from western India came and settled on the land, and the existing population are of the same castes as the Maratha country or Bombay.

But prior to the Maratha conquest Berar and the Nimar District of the Central Provinces had been included in the Mughal empire, and traces of Mughal rule remain in a substantial Muhammadan element in the population.

To the south the Chanda District runs down to the Godavari river, and the southern tracts of Chanda and Bastar State are largely occupied by Telugu immigrants from Madras.

To the east of the Nagpur plain the large landlocked area of Chhattisgarh in the upper basin of the Mahanadi was colonised at an early period by Hindus from the east of the United Provinces and Oudh, probably coming through Jubbulpore.