Neither the Silcis nor the Ajuran developed the town, but limited themselves to controlling the caravan routes and collecting taxes and tribute.

According to Virginia Luling, "The Sil'is imposed their dominion on the Geledi, who had to pay as tribute a measure (suus) of grain every day from each household; it was collected and loaded on a camel, others say a donkey.

According to Luling, "His daughter Imbia used to go round collecting the daily tribute of grain, accompanied by her slaves" from her father's Wacdaan and Geledi subjects.

Oral accounts hold that one day, "when the Sultan's daughter came round to collect the tribute, she got a beating instead of the grain", as the Geledi refused to pay.

When Imbia reported this event to her father, he exclaimed "waa la i afgooye", literally "they have cut off my mouth", meaning that the regime's source of provision had been terminated.

[7] Afgooye was in its golden age in the early modern period under the reign of the Gobroon dynasty which was not only a powerful military machine but, by its use of Asraar or Ta'daar the feared "secret mystical language" was a formidable force in other respects as well.

It had many complex structures such as multi-story high buildings, big palaces in the center, mosques, residential houses, shops, roads, and bridges.

Afgooye was the crossroads of caravans bringing ivory, leopard skins, and aloe in exchange for foreign fabrics, sugar, dates, and firearms.

After the outbreak of the civil war in 1991, parts of the town became a place of refuge for many of southern Somalia's internally displaced people.

[11] On May 25, 2012, Somali government forces backed by AMISOM tanks re-captured Afgooye from Al-Shabaab, which had established a base in the area.

[12] Istunka, also known as isgaraac, was the name for annual mock combat festival in Afgooye, which marks the new year and one of the best known tourist attractions in the region.

It was later expanded upon by Sultan Ahmed Yusuf (Gobroon) becoming a centralized tournament separate teams were established, each supported by an assembly of poets, female vocalists and dance groups throughout the duration of the contest.