Nanning was once the territory of the Baiyue people and became the capital of Jinxing Prefecture which was separated from Yulin Prefecture of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
In the Yuan dynasty in 1324, it was renamed Nanning Lu (an administrative division) of Yongzhou Lu meaning "May peace maintain in the southern frontier", hence the name Nanning. Historically, Nanning was famous for trade, and had permanent business offices from other areas in China since the Song dynasty.
In the Ming dynasty Nanning developed into the commodity distributing center of the Zuo River and the You River with the reputation of "Little Nanjing".
Nanning serves as host for the annual China-ASEAN EXPO (CASEAN EXPO) which began in 2005 and was the venue for the 2006 "World Robotics Olympiad".