The community was founded in the mid to late 19th century by Druze from nearby Beit Jann, who were later joined by Druze migrants from Lebanon and Jabal al-Druze in Syria.[2] It was named after an eponymous wellspring outside the village.[3]
British Mandate era
In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities, Ein al-Asad had a population of 48, of whom 47 were Druze and one a Christian,[4] increasing in the 1931 census to 81; 80 Druze and one Christian and a total of 18 houses.[5] In the 1945 statistics, the population of Ein al-Asad together with Beit Jann was 1,640, all classified as "others" (meaning Druze, 120 of which were indicated as being in Ein al-Asad),[6] who owned 43,550 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[7] 2,530 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, while 7,406 dunams were used for cereals[8] and 67 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[9]
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 4Archived 2018-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 40Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 80Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 130Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine
Falah, Salman (1975). "A History of the Druze Settlements in Palestine during the Ottoman Period". In Maoz, Moshe (ed.). Studies on Palestine during the Ottoman Period. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. Archived from the original on 2023-03-31. Retrieved 2023-03-31.