The village has seen many foreign occupiers pass through its lands such as the Crusaders, Ottoman Turks and the French colonial forces.

During the Ottoman period, it belonged to the Kurdish feudal family the Banu Sayfa, then around 1620 it was partially destroyed by Emir Fakhreddine II.

[citation needed] In 1838, Eli Smith noted Mushmish as a Sunni Muslim village, located south of esh-Sheikh Muhammed.

[citation needed] Although mishmish translates to apricot in Arabic, one would find it hard to locate a plant of the same name in the village's agricultural lands.

[citation needed] The population of the village is approximately 18000 inhabitants, there are twelve family groups the Lebanese government have recognised in regard to local election voting.

Other families include Barakat, Dennawi, Houli (Most inhabited family in Australia), Abouzeid, Fattah, Souki, Hamad, Eljamal, Zobit, Taleb, Abdo, Kaddour, Aldali, Osman, Haloum, Harba, Hussein, Badra, Kentar, Aboueid, Kessab, Nasbeh, Baarini, Saood, Kerdi, Khodr and Dib's.

The original settlers were nomadic Arabs that settled in the area due to the villages plentiful water supply and proximity to old trading routes.