The town is located in a bend of the Ganana River, where the watercourse flows down from north to south in a horseshoe shape.

The entrance of the city gate is situated not more than 100 meters from the river banks on both the eastern and western sides of the town.

The Bender-Luuq caravan trade used the southern region of Ethiopia as an economic catchment area to access new and valued commodities such as coffee, gold, and slaves.

In the Shebelle and Jubba valleys, the emergence of the political power of the gasaargude saldante coincided with this period of southern expansion of the interior caravan trade which boosted urban centers across the inter-riverine regions.

The Ajuran Somalis "established and maintained control over the coastal regions and built roads connecting the interior urban centers which further boosted prosperity in southern Somalia.

[4] According to captain Thomas Smee in his 1811 report to the authorities of British India wrote the city was heavily fortified and had over 2 thousand stone houses with mosques, roads including palaces, and castles in the center.

The traders of Luuq "reached such sophistication that [they had] a highly developed system of weights and measures, credit was available, and written contracts were signed between the merchants the caravans who carried their merchandise into the interior".

On March 7, 2011, Transitional Federal Government forces and allied militia captured Luuq from Al-Shabaab rebels, encountering little or no resistance.

[8][9] In 2013, Luuq and other settlements in the wider Gedo region were officially incorporated into the newly formed Jubaland autonomous state.