Sherds from the
Iron Age II,
Hellenistic,
Roman,
Byzantine and
Mamluk eras have been found here.
Ottoman era Kafr Ni'ma was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire in 1517 with all of
Palestine, and in 1596 it appeared in the
tax registers as being in the
nahiya (subdistrict) of
al-Quds (Jerusalem) in the
liwa (district) of al-Quds. It had a population of 9 households, all
Muslims. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33.3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 4,100
akçe. 13/24 of the revenue went to a
waqf (religious endowment), the rest was
ziamet land. An Ottoman village list of about 1870 counted a population of 353 in 88 houses, though the population count included men only. In 1882, the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine described
Kefr Nameh as: "a village of smaller size with a
well to the south, on the side of hill, with olives." In 1896 the population of ''Kefr Na'me'' was estimated to be about 657 persons.
British Mandate era In the
1922 census of Palestine conducted by the
British Mandate authorities, the village, called ''Kufr Ne'meh,'' had a population of 517, all Muslims, increasing in the
1931 census to 681 inhabitants, in 170 houses. In the
1945 statistics the population was 780 Muslims, while the total land area was 10,286
dunams, according to an official land and population survey. Of this, 5,363 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 2,148 for cereals, while 31 dunams were classified as built-up areas. File:Bil'in 1944.jpg|Kafr Ni'ma 1944 1:20,000 from 1919 survey File:Burj 1945.jpg|Kafr Ni'ma 1945 1:250,000 (top right quadrant)
Jordanian era In the wake of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the
1949 Armistice Agreements, Kafr Ni'ma came under
Jordanian rule. The Jordanian census of 1961 found 1,065 inhabitants in Kafr Ni'ma.
1967-present Since the
Six-Day War in 1967, Kafr Ni'ma has been under
Israeli occupation. After the
1995 accords, 70.2% of Kafr Nima land is defined as
Area B land, while the remaining 29.8% is defined as
Area C. The old core of the village is mostly abandoned, while the modern settlement has expanded southward onto the ridge.
Israel–Gaza war On 10 June 2024, four Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli military forces during a raid in the town. ==Notable people==