Editing Zug (section)

==History==
[[File:Stumpf-Chronik-Zug.png|thumb|View of Zug before 1547]]
[[File:Zug - Unterstadt - Zugersee IMG 2606.JPG|thumb|''Unterstadt'' (lower town) as seen from [[Lake Zug]] harbour]]
[[File:Zug - Oberstadt IMG 2611.jpg|thumb|''Oberstadt'' (upper town) in the [[Altstadt]]]]

===Prehistory===
The oldest evidence of humans in the area trace back to 14,000&nbsp;BC. There have been Paleolithic finds on the north bank of [[Lake Zug]], which come from nomadic hunters and gatherers. Archaeologists have also found over forty lake-shore settlements, known as [[pile dwellings]], on the shores of Lake Zug from the epoch of the first settled farmers in the [[Neolithic]] period (5,500-2,200&nbsp;BC). The peak in these lake-shore village settlements was between 3800 and 2450&nbsp;BC. For the same epoch, the first pre-alpine land use has been found in Menzingen and in the Ägeri valley. The well-known, historically researched lake-shore village ''{{'}}Sumpf{{'}}'' (the swamp), dated from the late Bronze Age (up until 850&nbsp;BC). Evidence from these finds resulted in a quite different picture of life in former times, which is on display at the Zug Museum for Prehistory. In addition, finds from the Iron Age (850-50 BC) and the Roman and Celtic-Roman time (from 50&nbsp;BC) have been unearthed.

===Kyburg foundation===
In around AD 600, Alemannic families and tribes migrated to the area of present-day canton Zug. The name Blickensdorf, and place names with '-ikon' endings, prove this as the first Alemannic living space.{{why|date=March 2018}} The churches of Baar and Risch also date back to the early Middle Ages. The first written document on the area originates from the year 858, and refers to King [[Ludwig the German]] giving the farm ''Chama'' (Cham) to the Zürich Fraumünster convent. At this time, the area of present-day Zug belonged to completely different monastic and secular landlords, the most important of whom were the Habsburgs, and who, in 1264, inherited the Kyburg rights and remained a central political power until about 1400.

In the course of the high medieval town construction, the settlement of Zug also received a town wall at some point after 1200. The town founders were probably the counts of [[County of Kyburg|Kyburg]]. The town, first mentioned in AD 1240, was called an "[[oppidum]]" in 1242 and a "[[castrum]]" in 1255. In 1273, it was bought by [[Rudolph I of Germany|Rudolph of Habsburg]] from Anna, the heiress of [[House of Kyburg|Kyburg]] and wife of Eberhard, head of the [[cadet branch|cadet line]] of [[Habsburg]].{{sfn|Coolidge|1911|p=1048}} Through this purchase it passed into the control of the Habsburgs and was placed under a Habsburg [[bailiff]]. The ''Aeusser Amt'' or Outer District consisted of the villages and towns surrounding Zug, which each had their own ''[[Landsgemeinde]]n'' but were ruled by a single Habsburg bailiff. Zug was important as an administrative center of the Kyburg and the Habsburg district, then as a local market place, and, thereafter, as a stage town for the transport of goods (particularly salt and iron) over the Hirzel hill towards Lucerne.

===Joining the Swiss Confederation===
On 27 June 1352, both the town of Zug and the ''Aeusser Amt'' entered the [[Swiss Confederation]], the latter being received on exactly the same terms as the town, and not, as was usual in the case of outer districts, as a subject land. However, in September 1352 Zug had to acknowledge its own lords again, and in 1355 was obliged to break off its connection with the league. About 1364, the town and the Aeusser Amt were recovered for the league by the men of [[Schwyz]], and from this time Zug took part as a full member in all the acts of the league. In 1379, the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Wenceslaus, Holy Roman Emperor|Wenceslaus]] exempted Zug from all external jurisdictions, and in 1389 the Habsburgs renounced their claims, reserving only an annual payment of 20 silver marks, which came to an end in 1415. In 1400 Wenceslaus gave all criminal jurisdiction to the town only. The Aeusser Amt, in 1404, then claimed that the banner and seal of Zug should be kept in one of the country districts and were supported in this claim by Schwyz. The matter was finally settled in 1412 by arbitration, and the banner was to be kept in the town. Finally in 1415, the right of electing their ''[[landammann]]'' was given to Zug by the Confederation, and a share in the criminal jurisdiction was granted to the Aeusser Amt by German king [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund]].{{sfn|Coolidge|1911|p=1048}}

The alliance of the four forest cantons of [[Uri (canton)|Uri]], [[Schwyz (canton)|Schwyz]], [[Unterwalden]] and [[Lucerne]] with the city of Zürich in 1351 set much in motion. The town of Zug was seen as having Habsburg ties with the cities of Zürich and Lucerne, and therefore had to be conquered. It is likely that this was more for political than economic reasons: the Lucerne market was very important for central Switzerland, but also strongly dependent on the city of [[Zürich]]. Zürich initiated a siege on Zug with the federal army in June 1352. Zug surrendered. On 27 June 1352 Zürich, Luzern, Zug, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed an alliance. Zürich's saw this 'Zugerbund' (Zug alliance) as an alliance of convenience. For the town of Zug, little changed, and Zug remained Habsburg. That same year, the Zug alliance was declared invalid by all parties. A period of Schwyz domination then followed. Only gradually did Zug become sovereign and federal.

Simultaneously, Zug expanded its territory, acquiring a number of rural areas in the form of bailiwicks ([[Walchwil]], [[Cham (Switzerland)|Cham]], Gangolfswil [Risch] [[Hünenberg]] and [[Steinhausen, Switzerland|Steinhausen]], and Oberrüti, now part of the canton of Aargau). Zug became a confederation in itself – with the town and its subject territories, and the three outer ('free') municipalities, [[Ägeri]], [[Menzingen]] (with [[Neuheim]]) and [[Baar, Switzerland|Baar]]. This problematic dualism dominated until 1798, i.e. until the end of the old confederation, the political structure of the Canton Zug. The unifying element of this miniature confederation was, among others, the rural municipalities and the forty-member city council.

===Growth of the town===
In 1385, Zug joined the league of the Swabian cities against [[Leopold III of Austria (Habsburg)|Leopold III of Austria]] and shared in the victory of [[Battle of Sempach|Sempach]], as well as in the various [[Aargau|Argovian]] (1415) and [[Thurgau|Thurgovian]] (1460) conquests of the Confederates, and later in those of Italy (1512), having already taken part in the occupation of the Val d'Ossola. Between 1379 ([[Walchwil]]) and 1477 ([[Cham, Switzerland|Cham]]), Zug had acquired various districts in its own neighborhood, principally to the north and the west, which were ruled till 1798 by the town alone as subject lands.{{sfn|Coolidge|1911|p=1048}}

In 1478, the building of a larger town wall began, which increased the town area six-fold – the same year as the building of the late gothic St. Oswald Church began. The building master of the new town wall was Hans Felder from Bavarian Swabia. The ground plan of the town wall is indicative of an ideal symmetric plan of the Renaissance period – something very rare at that time. The overall urban planning implemented in the small town of Zug was modern for its time.

===The Reformation and early modern era===
During the turmoil of the Reformation, Zug remained on the Catholic side of central Switzerland and retained the old faith. Warring religious confederates fought at Kappel am Albis (1531) and at Gubel in Menzingen. Its location on the edge of central Switzerland made Zug a confessional border town. During the Reformation, Zug clung to the old faith and was a member of the ''Christliche Vereinigung'' of 1529. In 1586, it became a member of the Golden League.{{sfn|Coolidge|1911|p=1048}}

The period up until 1798 was marked by internal political rivalries and turbulence. The invasion of the French troops marked the end of the old order, and with the Helvetic order came a radical political change. Zug became part of the canton Waldstätten, and the cantonal capital for a short time. After a 50-year struggle between federalism and centralism, between confederation and central state, between conservative and liberal-radical vision, in 1848, today's federal government of Switzerland emerged. Zug was given its current cantonal structure, consisting of eleven local municipalities.

===Industrialisation and internationalisation===
[[File:ETH-BIB-Zug, Übersicht v. S. O.-Inlandflüge-LBS MH01-001739.tif|thumb|Aerial view by [[Walter Mittelholzer]] (1919)]]

Until well into the 19th century, Zug consisted of agricultural land. Actual industrialization began with the entrepreneur Wolfgang Henggeler, who in 1834 built a cotton mill in Unterägeri. This was followed by the two companies in Neuägeri and Baar. In 1866, the American George Ham Page founded the first European condensed milk factory in Cham, which later merged with [[Nestlé]]. Industry in Zug was dominated by the company [[Landis+Gyr]], founded in 1896, and now owned by [[Toshiba]]. The connection to the Swiss railway network in 1864 was important, as was the connection of mountain and valley with an electric tram at the beginning of the 20th century.

In the second half of the century, dynamic expansion took place and Zug became a national and international financial and trading centre, aided by its proximity to Zürich, and by an attractive tax policy. In parallel, large industrial and commercial zones evolved; employment increased rapidly; the population rose sharply, and the building boom skyrocketed. Canton Zug catapulted itself into being at the top of the financially strong cantons. And the town today has become, as the British Guardian once wrote, 'a compass of the global economy'.

===Today===
Zug is a [[tax haven|low tax region]] and is headquarters for a number of multinational enterprises. The Expat City Ranking in 2019, based on a study of more than 20,000 respondents, rated the quality of life in Zug highest among all cities in the survey.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sibold |first=Laura |title=Die Stadt Zug ist bei Expats besonders beliebt |language=de |url=https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/zentralschweiz/zug/die-stadt-zug-ist-bei-expats-besonders-beliebt-ld.1174555 |access-date=10 March 2021}}</ref> The town's best-known agricultural product is [[Kirsch]]. 

On 27 September 2001, a [[Mental disorder|mentally-ill]] 57-year-old resident [[Zug massacre|shot 32 people, killing 14]] before killing himself in the cantonal parliament building (Parlamentsgebäude Zug).<ref name="bericht">[http://serien-killer.com/downloads/schlussberichtattentat.pdf Untersuchungsrichterlicher Schlußbericht] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006042522/http://serien-killer.com/downloads/schlussberichtattentat.pdf |date=6 October 2011}} (German)</ref>

[[File:Sunset over Zug.jpg|thumb|center|750px|Night view of Zug and its [[Lake Zug|lake]]]]