The town played an important role in trade between the port cities of Zeila, and the hinterland with houses constructed of mud and stone and some Aqal's.

Tumuli and vestiges have been found in and around Daasbiyo, once dynamic and prosperous possessing a well on its bed of wadi which crossed it.

According to the twelfth-century Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, the Zeila region was the land of the Havilah, confined by al-Habash in the west.

Occasionally, Dasbiyo has heavy rains where the precipitation for the entire year will fall over the course of a few days.

The town inhabitants belong to various mainly Afro-Asiatic-speaking ethnic groups, with the Issa Somali predominant.