Borama (, ) is the largest city of the northwestern Awdal region of Somaliland The commercial seat of the province, it is situated near the border with Ethiopia. During the Middle Ages, Borama was ruled by the Adal Sultanate. It later formed a part of the British Somaliland protectorate in the first half of the 20th century. According to the UNDP in 2014, the city had a population of around 398,609 making it one of the largest cities inside Somaliland. It has been a leading example in community organizing, having been the first area in Somaliland to adopt a self-help scheme in the wake of the civil war. History As with several nearby towns such as Amud, numerous archaeological finds have been discovered in the Borama area that point to an eventful past. The latter include ancient remains of tombs, houses and mosques, in addition to sherds of Oriental wares, particularly Chinese porcelain. The artefacts and structures date from various historical periods, ranging from the 12th through to the 18th centuries. Most, however, are from the 15th and 16th centuries, a time of great commercial activity in the region that is associated with the medieval Adal Sultanate. Excavations in the late 1800s and early 1900s at over fourteen sites in the vicinity of Borama unearthed, among other things, coins identified as having been derived from Kait Bey, the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. Most of these finds were sent to the British Museum for preservation shortly after their discovery. In the first half of the 20th century, Borama formed a part of the British Somaliland protectorate. It was later given district status in 1925. In 1933, Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur, a Qur'anic teacher and son of Borama's qadi (judge), devised a new orthography for transcribing the Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Somali language. A quite accurate phonetic writing system, this Borama script was principally used by Nuur, his circle of associates in the city and some of the merchants in control of trade in Zeila and Borama. Students of Sheikh Nuur were also trained in the use of this script. .The alphabet is also generally known as the Gadabuursi script. During the onset of World War II, the Italians captured the town. It was re-captured by the British the following year, in 1940. In the post-independence period, Borama was administered as part of the official Awdal administrative region of Somalia. During the