Northland State of Somalia was an autonomous state in the disputed Sool

Sool

Sool is an administrative region in northern Somalia.-Overview:With its capital at Las Anod, Sool is historically known for being the seat of the anti-colonial Dervish movement....

, Sanaag

Sanaag

Sanaag is an administrative region in northern Somalia. Its capital city is Erigavo.Sanaag has a long coastline facing the Gulf of Aden to the north, and is bordered by the Somali regions of Woqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer, Sool and Bari....

 and Cayn regions of Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, proclaimed in May 2008. It was located between Somaliland

Somaliland

Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...

 and the autonomous macro-regions of Puntland

Puntland

Puntland , officially the Puntland State of Somalia , is a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998....

 and Maakhir

Maakhir

Maakhir , officially the Maakhir State of Somalia was an autonomous region in northern Somalia in an area disputed by the Somaliland and Puntland macro-regions. In January 2009, it was incorporated into Puntland.-Autonomy:...

.

This initiative was spearheaded by the Dulbahante Somali clan, a Harti

Harti

Harti , meaning "strong man", is a name used to denote a confederation of various Darod sub-clans of the Somali people.-Clan tree:There is no clear agreement on the clan and sub-clan structures and many lineages are omitted...

 Darod

Darod

The Darod is a Somali clan. The father of this clan is named Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, but is more commonly known as Darod. In the Somali language, the word Daarood means "an enclosed compound," a conflation of the two words daar and ood .The Darod population in Somalia lives principally...

 clan, for much the same reasons that the Maakhir

Maakhir

Maakhir , officially the Maakhir State of Somalia was an autonomous region in northern Somalia in an area disputed by the Somaliland and Puntland macro-regions. In January 2009, it was incorporated into Puntland.-Autonomy:...

 state was declared in Sanaag by the Warsangeli, another Harti Darod clan located in disputed territory between Somaliland and Puntland.

Notable towns within these borders include Taleex

Taleex

Taleh is an historical town in the northeastern Sool region of Somalia. It served as the headquarters of the pre-independence Dervish State.-History:...

, Yagoori, Xudun

Xudun

Xudunor Hudun is a town and seat of Xudun District, in the Sool Region of Somaliland in northern Somalia.It lies 59 kilometres north by road from Laascaanood.In June 2010 it was reported that 300 SSC soldiers defected from Hargeisa to Xudun....

, and Buuhoodle

Buuhoodle

Buhoodle or Buuhoodle is the capital of the Ayn region in northern Somalia. It is disputed between Somaliland, Puntland and HBM-SSC , a local unionist group whose goal is the creation of its own regional administration .-History:Buuhoodle is an historical city...

.

While Northland's official capital was Las Anod, its parliament never met due to Las Anod being under the control of Somaliland.