Archaeological findings prove that humans have been living here since the Stone Age. The three historic predecessor settlements of Tatabánya are Alsógalla, Felsőgalla and Bánhida. Bánhida is the earliest settlement; it was first mentioned in 1288.
In the 16th century the Ottoman Turks, occupied the area. Around this time the inhabitants became Protestants. Later, its feudal lords, the Esterházys populated the area with Roman Catholic German and Slovak settlers.
According to the 1787 census Alsógalla had 580, Felsőgalla had 842 inhabitants. The coal resources of the area were discovered around this time. The population began to grow, and a new mining colony was formed, later developing into the village of Tatabánya.
During the industrialization wave that took over the country after World War II, several Hungarian towns developed into large industrial cities. The four villages were united on October 1, 1947 under the name Tatabánya and it was elevated to town status. In 1950, it became the county capital of Komárom-Esztergom county (then called Komárom county.) By the 1980s, it had more than 80.000 inhabitants.
The industrial character of the city was significant until the fall of the Socialist government and the following political changes of 1989. After that, the importance of heavy industry and mining decreased and the economic structure of the city has changed remarkably
