The municipal area stretches from the western shore of Millstätter See to the town boundary of the district capital Spittal an der Drau.

In the Hallstatt culture, Celtic tribes settled along the nearby Drava Valley, their kingdom Noricum became a Roman province under Emperor Augustus in 15 BC.

The area was located near a Roman road (Via Iulia Augusta) from Aquileia to the local capital Teurnia, where a northern branch-off across the Radstädter Tauern Pass led to Iuvavum (present-day Salzburg).

The local lords at Sommeregg Castle in the Duchy of Carinthia were first mentioned in an 1187 deed, they served as ministeriales (castellans) of the Counts of Ortenburg.

When the Ortenburger family became extinct in 1418, their Carinthian possessions passed to the Counts of Celje, who left the rule to local nobles, among them Andreas von Graben.

In 1629 the Protestant Khevenhüller had to leave Carinthia at the instigation of Emperor Ferdinand II, and in 1651 the noble House of Lodron at Gmünd acquired their estates.