During the 1860s the region was one of the sites of the Central Otago goldrush, and relics from that era can still be seen around the towns of Kyeburn, Naseby, and St. Bathans.
The wide flat plateau of the Maniototo which lies between the upper reaches of the Taieri River and the Clutha's northern tributary the Manuherikia is also usually considered part of Central Otago.
As with many places in and close to the Maniototo area, its name may have been influenced by the Northumberland ancestry of early surveyor John Turnbull Thomson (there is a Middle March region in Northumberland, centred around the town of Otterburn).