After the Battle of Sempach in 1405, when a central Swiss alliance fought an army of House Habsburg, the contract of 1385 was de jure certified.

The local population revolted repeatedly against the rule of Lucerne during the 15th to 17th century, most notably the Amstaldenhandel (1478), the Zwiebelnkrieg (1513) and the finally the Swiss Peasant War of 1653.

The modern Amt (district) Entlebuch was established in 1803 as a consequence of the restructuring of Switzerland after the dissolution of the Helvetic Republic.

The region was long known as the "poorhouse of Switzerland" (also as the "Wild West of Lucerne") and is struggling for economic independence even today.

In 2001 UNESCO accepted the region of Entlebuch to become part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves, in which conservation of the natural and cultural landscape is coupled with strengthening the local economy.