The development of human cerebral cortex unfolds in a highly complex and organized manner. A prominent feature of the immature fetal brain is the presence of transient fetal zones which gradually disappear during development. At the peak of development, a total of seven histologically discernible transient fetal zones have been identified, from ventricular to pial surface: the ventricular zone, the periventricular zone, the subventricular zone, the intermediate zone, the subplate, the cortical plate and the marginal zone. The ventricular and subventricular zones are proliferative telencephalic regions separated by tangentially running callosal fibers of the periventricular zone. The intermediate zone is a fetal white matter which, besides growing axonal fibers, contains migratory neurons. The most prominent layer in the neocortical anlage is the subplate, which serves as a waiting compartment for growing cortical afferents and is a key site of early synaptogenesis. The cortical plate is an immature form of the future cerebral cortex composed of vertical columns of postmigratory neurons, situated below the outermost cell-sparse marginal zone. With the use of recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, it is possible to identify these transient structures as regions of either high (bright) or low (dark) MR signal intensities. The MR signal intensities depend on the microstructural and biochemical properties of the region of interest. A relatively novel, diffusion-weighted MRI method, called diffusion tractography imaging, proved itself useful in delineating the microstructural characteristics of the brain tissue. The purpose of this paper is to review and correlate the findings of histological and MRI methods at different time points during the fetal brain development. The results of these studies might in the future be applied for in utero diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders.