# Caluula (Alula)

> Caluula (Alula): old port at the north-east tip of Somalia, linked to ancient Acannae, capital of Puntland's Gardafuul region.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/regions/caluula/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Where it is

Caluula lies on the coast of the Guardafui Channel, about ten miles east of Ras Filuk and about 100 nautical miles from Bosaso ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)), at about 11.96°N, 50.76°E ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q448076)). It was in the [Bari](/en/regions/bari/) region. In 2013 [Puntland](/en/states/puntland/) made it the capital of a new region, Gardafuul (Gardafu), carved out of Bari: the government announced it on 8 April 2013 and Puntland's parliament approved it on 20 July 2013 ([Garowe Online, 2013](https://web.archive.org/web/20140426201442/http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Puntland_Parliament_approves_new_region_and_cabinet_members_printer.shtml)).

The name is read as *Cal* (the Cal mountains of the north-east) and *luul* (pearl), "the pearl of the Cal mountains" ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)).

## Ancient Acannae and the frankincense trade

Sources identify Caluula with Acannae in the 1st-century *Periplus of the Erythraean Sea* and with Akkania in Ptolemy's 2nd-century *Geography* ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia); [Ptolemy, *Geography* 4.7](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/_Texts/Ptolemy/4/7*.html)). A grove near the town gave what the Periplus calls the finest frankincense, the "far-side" (peratic) incense, from beyond the Bab el-Mandeb strait. It went to other ports of the northern coast, among them Malao, [Mosylon](/en/history/periplus-somali-ports-1st-century/) and Opone, and on to Roman Egypt and Arabia ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)). Cosmas Indicopleustes recorded this trade still running in the 6th century ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)). See also [frankincense and myrrh](/en/economy/frankincense-and-myrrh/).

## Ruins

About 20 km east of Caluula is a stone platform monument, 24 m by 17 m, with standing stones at its corners and graves and cairns nearby. It is the largest of a group of platform monuments found only in far north-eastern Somalia. Neville Chittick surveyed them in 1975–76 for the British Institute in Eastern Africa ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)).

## The Majeerteen Sultanate and Italian conquest

The navigator Ahmad ibn Majid named Caluula among the ports of the northern coast in the 1400s ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)). In the early modern period it served as a capital of the Majeerteen Sultanate (Migiurtinia), and a castle from that time still stands ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)). In the late 1920s, in Italy's campaign against the northern sultanates, Caluula, [Hafun](/en/history/ancient-port-of-opone-ras-hafun/), Bargal, Qandala and Habo were heavily bombarded, and much of their old buildings were destroyed ([Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)). See [Bargaal](/en/regions/bargaal/) and [Qandala](/en/regions/qandala/).

See also [the Majeerteen and Hobyo sultanates](/en/history/majeerteen-and-hobyo-sultanates/).

## Today

Puntland's education ministry counts 11 primary schools in Caluula district, among them Xabo, Geesaley, Murcanyo, Xoogad and Caluula Primary ([Puntland Ministry of Education](http://www.moepuntland.com/primary/)). The town has an airstrip and a small sea port ([World Airport Codes](http://www.world-airport-codes.com/somalia/alula-188.html); [Somali government transport paper, 2010](https://www.somalitalk.com/2010/may/istambul/transport.pdf)). It has a hot desert climate (Köppen BWh) ([Deutscher Wetterdienst](https://www.dwd.de/DWD/klima/beratung/ak/ak_632000_kt.pdf)).

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Alula, Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alula,_Somalia)
- [Wikidata Q448076](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q448076)
- [Ptolemy, *Geography*, book 4 chapter 7](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/_Texts/Ptolemy/4/7*.html)
- [Garowe Online, Puntland parliament approves new region, 2013](https://web.archive.org/web/20140426201442/http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_Puntland_Parliament_approves_new_region_and_cabinet_members_printer.shtml)
- [Puntland Ministry of Education, primary schools](http://www.moepuntland.com/primary/)

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