The first written reference of the original village of Bohumin, the current town district of Stary [Old] Bohumin, dates back to 1256. At that time a domain, the center of which was the Bohumin castle with the village, started to form around Bohumin. According to a deed dated January 6, 1373, Prince Jan Ratiborsky entrusted the town of Bohumin and Barutswerde castle, which was situated close to the town, to Pasek de Barutswerde. This is the first information on Bohumin as a town.

The families that owned the domain changed over the centuries. Besides the suzerains of Barutswerde, the first known owners of the Bohumin castle and domain, there were also the suzerains of Tvorkov and Kravare, a family based mostly in the Opava region and in Moravia, Beliks of Kornice, originally a Polish family, the Hohenzollens, relatives of the margraves of Brandenburg, the Henckels of Donnersmark, the Silesian family Gusnars of Komorno, the Polish countess Marie Rudnicka, her son-in-law Leopold von Heydebrandt, Konrad von Mattencloit and Count Larisch-Mönichs, who held the domain until 1945.

The historical turning point for the domain was the year 1848, when it was divided into Austrian and Prussian parts, but especially 1847, when the first train came here on the tracks of Northern Ferdinand Railway running from Vienna to Lvov. Originally the line should have gone directly through Bohumin, however, due to a lack of understanding of Bohumin townsfolk, the commission that determined the route of the line was forced to step down and the line was routed through the cadastre of the adjacent town of Sunychl. The train station was built there in a deserted place in the forest. Operations started on May 1,1847 and on October 1, 1848 the line was connected to Prussian Railroads. In this way, one of the most important rail transport nodes in Central Europe was formed.

Houses for railroaders were gradually built around the train station and later these were followed by houses built by shopkeepers and craftsmen, schools, authorities and later also factories, which were attracted by the proximity of the Ostrava-Karviná coalfield and its favorable position on the important railroad line. The town of Sunychl developed turbulently – the number of inhabitants increased from 398 in 1845 up to 10 561 in 1930, while the original Bohumin stagnated – during the same period the number of residents increased from 1035 to only 3188 there.

The town of Sunychl was promoted to a city in 1924 and at the same time, its name was changed to Novy [New] Bohumin.

Bohumin had 23 372 residents as of April 1, 2001.