There was no permanent settlement in the area prior to the early medieval period, but numerous artefacts left by prehistoric hunters, dated to the Mesolithic to Bronze Age were recovered.

[5] One of the hermits, named Eberhard, previously Provost of Strasburg, erected a monastery and church there, of which he became first abbot.

[6] At the time of the foundation of the Abbey, the local hunters and small farmers of the forest, placed themselves under the authority of the noble-born Abbot.

Expansion of grazing land into nearby alpine valleys led to a two century conflict with Schwyz.

This attack triggered a series of border raids that, along with other events, in 1315 led to a Habsburg invasion and their crushing defeat at the Battle of Morgarten.

Einsiedeln is the birthplace of Paracelsus, a Renaissance physician and alchemist who is credited with first naming zinc.

In 1399 the Drei Teile ("Three Parts": a council that included the Abbey, the Waldleute from the surrounding villages, and Schwyz) is first mentioned.

In 1764, an attempt by the Abbot to require tradesmen to only practise their trade in Einsiedeln and preventing skilled workers from settling in among the Waldleute[8] led to open conflict.

[4] During the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the Abbey was suppressed for about three years[5] and the land was added to the city of Schwyz.

[4] Following the collapse of the post-invasion Helvetic Republic, in 1803 as part of the Act of Mediation Einsiedeln became a Bezirk (or District) in the Canton of Schwyz.

The Abbey stood on the side of the conservative faction in the Canton, which caused tense relations between them and the surrounding villages until the creation of the Federal State in 1848.

Einsiedeln has a total area of 99.1 km2 (38.3 sq mi), of which nearly half (47.1%) is agricultural and only slightly less (44.5%) is forested.

[11] The historical population is given in the following table:[4] Einsiedeln is the terminal station of the Wädenswil–Einsiedeln railway, which are served by Zürich S-Bahn lines S13 and S40.

At the nearby Biberbrugg junction station, there are connections to the InterRegio Voralpen Express to Lucerne and St. Gallen.

The wettest month was June during which time Einsiedeln received an average of 206 mm (8.1 in) of precipitation.

[15] Since the Middle Ages the Graces Chapel and a statue of the Black Madonna have been the centerpiece of the pilgrimage.

The nearby reservoir, Sihlsee, is used in summer for swimming, surfing and sailing, and in the winter for ice-skating.

The dam, which retains the lake, produces electricity for the trains and protects the city of Zürich further down the valley from the flood of the Sihl.

At the same time, the village has experienced a boom with day tourists, owing to the clear air and mountain views.