[24] Wisconsin is home to one UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprising two of the most significant buildings designed by Wisconsin-born architect Frank Lloyd Wright: his studio at Taliesin near Spring Green and his Jacobs I House in Madison.

[31] After the ice age ended around 8000 BCE, people in the subsequent Archaic period lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering food from wild plants.

Even so, French traders continued to work in the region after the war, and some, beginning with Charles de Langlade in 1764, settled in Wisconsin permanently, rather than returning to British-controlled Canada.

The first permanent settlers, mostly French Canadians, some Anglo-New Englanders and a few African American freedmen, arrived in Wisconsin while it was under British control.

Yankees from New England and upstate New York seized a dominant position in law and politics, enacting policies that marginalized the region's earlier Native American and French-Canadian residents.

[46] Yankees also speculated in real estate, platted towns such as Racine, Beloit, Burlington, and Janesville, and established schools, civic institutions, and Congregationalist churches.

[52] The Republican Party, founded on March 20, 1854, by anti-slavery expansion activists in Ripon, Wisconsin, grew to dominate state politics in the aftermath of these events.

[55] Meanwhile, the lumber industry dominated in the heavily forested northern sections of Wisconsin, and sawmills sprang up in cities like La Crosse, Eau Claire, and Wausau.

[57] Meanwhile, conservationists including Aldo Leopold helped re-establish the state's forests during the early 20th century,[58] paving the way for a more renewable lumber and paper milling industry as well as promoting recreational tourism in the northern woodlands.

Between 1901 and 1914, Progressive Republicans in Wisconsin created the nation's first comprehensive statewide primary election system,[61] the first effective workplace injury compensation law,[62] and the first state income tax,[63] making taxation proportional to actual earnings.

[70] Later, UW economics professors John R. Commons and Harold Groves helped Wisconsin create the first unemployment compensation program in the United States in 1932.

[72] In the immediate aftermath of World War II, citizens of Wisconsin were divided over issues such as creation of the United Nations, support for the European recovery, and the growth of the Soviet Union's power.

[73] Wisconsin took part in several political extremes in the mid to late 20th century, ranging from the anti-communist crusades of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to the radical antiwar protests at UW-Madison that culminated in the Sterling Hall bombing in August 1970.

[78][79][80] In the southwest, the Western Upland is a rugged landscape with a mix of forest and farmland, including many bluffs on the Mississippi River, and the Baraboo Range.

Other metropolitan cities in the state include Appleton, Racine, Oshkosh, Eau Claire, Janesville, Wausau, La Crosse, Sheboygan, and Fond du Lac.

[113] About 33% of Wisconsin's Asian population is Hmong, with significant communities in Milwaukee, Wausau, Green Bay, Sheboygan, Appleton, Madison, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Oshkosh, and Manitowoc.

[155] Other tourist destinations include Taliesin, the studio of architect Frank Lloyd Wright; House on the Rock, a complex of architecturally distinct rooms; and the Circus World Museum, located in the Ringling brothers' hometown.

The Quadracci Pavilion contains a movable, wing-like Burke brise soleil that opens up for a wingspan of 217 feet (66 m) during the day, folding over the tall, arched structure at night or during inclement weather.

Taliesin and the Usonian Jacobs I House in Madison are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites as part of "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright".

[25] Other notable works of Wright in Wisconsin include the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wauwatosa, First Unitarian Society of Madison, and Johnson Wax Headquarters.

[169] Factors such as cultural identification with the state's heritage of German immigration, the long-standing presence of major breweries in Milwaukee, and a cold climate are often associated with the prevalence of drinking in Wisconsin.

Cheese curds are a popular variant that can be eaten separately cold as a snack, or covered in batter and fried as an appetizer, often served with ranch dressing as a dipping sauce.

[186] Culver's is a midwestern fast casual food restaurant chain originally from Sauk City and currently headquartered in Prairie du Sac known for serving butter burgers, fried cheese curds, and frozen custard.

The Madison Mallards, the La Crosse Loggers, the Lakeshore Chinooks, the Eau Claire Express, the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders, the Green Bay Rockers, the Kenosha Kingfish, the Wausau Woodchucks, and the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters all play in a collegiate all-star summer league.

The other elected constitutional offices in the executive branch are the secretary of state (Sarah Godlewski), treasurer (John Leiber), attorney general (Josh Kaul), and the non-partisan superintendent of public instruction (Jill Underly).

[213] Donald Trump managed to win the state in 2016 by a similarly narrow margin of 0.77%, the first time Wisconsin voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984.

[214] In 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney chose Congressman Paul Ryan, a native of Janesville, as his running mate against incumbent President Barack Obama.

[218][219][220] Some political scientists classify Wisconsin as a hybrid regime;[218] the state's House of Representative and legislature elections are considered to be free but not fair, with districts undergoing "extreme partisan gerrymanders" to entrench Republicans "beyond electoral rotation".

[224] Wisconsin's political history encompasses, on the one hand, Robert La Follette and the Progressive movement, and on the other, the Republican and anti-Communist Joe McCarthy.

The Borealis provides daily service to Chicago and Saint Paul, Minnesota, and is supplemental to the long-distance cross-country Empire Builder, both with stops in several cities across Wisconsin.