Göynücek lies in the south-west of Amasya province, in the valley of the Çekerek, a tributary of the Yeşilırmak. It borders Zile in Tokat to the east, Ortaköy in Çorum to the west, Aydıncık in Yozgat to the south and the central district of Amasya to the north, a position that places it where four provinces meet. The terrain is broken, with Karadağ rising to the west and Tekke Dağı to the south and east. The district faces the drier side of the transitional belt between the Black Sea region and Central Anatolia.
Settlement here goes back to the Chalcolithic. The mound at Ayvalıpınar belongs to that age, while Gediksaray Höyük, about fifteen metres high and counted among the largest mounds of the central Black Sea region, preserves traces of occupation from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman period. Gökçeli Castle, on a rocky hill above the Çekerek valley near the village of Gökçeli, was founded in the Iron Age and served as a garrison in Roman times; it is known for a stairway of ninety-eight steps cut into the rock. Gediksaray appears in records of 1300 and 1876 under the name Varay. In the nineteenth century the area was attached to Mecitözü through the nahiye of Varay. Göynücek became a district in 1922, lost the status in 1926 and was re-established by a law of 4 March 1954; it is also known to have belonged for a time to Çorum.
The economy rests on agriculture. The Çekerek plain produces okra, onions, sugar beet, barley and wheat, and the local saying "Amasya's apple, Göynücek's okra" sums up the district's reputation. The production area of Amasya flower okra, registered as a designation of origin in 2018, includes Göynücek. The village of Ilısu has a hot spring used by local people, and the folk dance Mahir Çavuş is associated with the district. According to TÜİK figures for 2025, Göynücek has three neighbourhoods, Cumhuriyet, Merkez and Yeni, and 38 villages.
