(Note: This is a partial
history as
created by
religiously
playing all of the
Zelda games, as well as actually
RTFMing. This is also not intended to be
complete, but rather the sort of thing one would find in an
encyclopedia about a long-lost
civilization with a partial history. If you want the
full story, play all of the Zelda games. :)
Once upon a time there was a land called Hyrule. This was a very magical land, with many magical animals, and various peoples who all lived in relative harmony.
Within this land was a kingdom called Hylia. The royal family of this kingdom were well-versed in magic, and were said to have become powerful enough to control energy at its most basic level, even able to manipulate time itself.
It is well-known that there was a battle between the Hylians and Ganondorf, prince of the Gerudos. Although the history regarding this battle is hazy, it is known that Ganondorf had acquired the Triforce of Power and used its energy to become Ganon, prince of darkness, and six sages (with, by some accounts, the help of a Hylian who came to be known as the Hero of Time) sealed him into the Sacred Realm (the birthplace of the Triforce), along with the Triforce of Power.
What happened to the Hylians, however, is unknown. Their ancient trade village of Kakariko lived on, but their kingdom and magics were seemingly lost to the ravages of time, though some evidence points to the fact that the sealing battle with Ganon was at approximately the same time - so perhaps Ganon had destroyed Hylia as his last act of evil, though some accounts indicate that the sealing battle occurred after the fall of Hylia. Additionally, the Gorons, a race of benevolent cave-dwellers, disappeared without a trace; their history is, sadly, even less verbose than that of the Hylians.
Several thousand years after the fall of Hylia, a new kingdom, named Hyrule, after the land it inhabited, was well-established. Kakariko would become a prosperous city, and the capital of the kingdom of Hyrule (also named Hyrule) would be built nearby, on the other side of Kakariko from the ancient ruins of Hylia.
At one point, Ganon had managed to take over the kingdom of Hyrule, however, through magic and subterfuge, projecting himself into Hyrule from the sacred realm in the form of the wizard Aghamim. A Hyrulian, named Link, defeated Ganon once again by finding the Hylian's ancient treasure, the Master Sword, and uncovering many ancient Hylian spells, with the help of the princess Zelda.
A hundred years later, Ganon had performed his final blow to the kingdom of Hyrule, completely devastating it. A descendant of Link's, also named Link, along with a descendant of Zelda's, also named Zelda, eventually put an end to Ganon, however, killing him totally, although his minions remained and attempted to resurrect him with the blood of the last hero Link. After this time, the kingdom of Hyrule rebuilt, but as a number of separate, unaffiliated city-states (rather than as a singular kingdom), the six largest of which were named after the sages who had originally sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm to begin with - Rauru, Saria, Ruto, Darunia, Impa and Nabooru.