The cultural history of the canton of Zug is long and rich. It took around 16,000 years from the immigration of the first hunters and gatherers at the end of the Ice Age to the construction of the first terraced housing development in Switzerland. In between, there are lakeside villages from the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Settlements and cemeteries date back to the Celts, Romans, and Alemanni. Castles, towns, and villages emerged in the Middle Ages. Churches and chapels were richly adorned during the Baroque period. The 19th century was characterized by the establishment of the first railway lines and industrial areas. The inventory of architectural monuments and archaeological finds is diverse, although it has been subjected to an above-average construction boom for decades, which has diminished it. This gives the varied cultural landscape at the transition from the Swiss Plateau to the pre-Alps a historical dimension and is part of its distinctive identity.