Goryeong Gaya was one of the lesser chiefdoms of the Gaya confederacy

Gaya confederacy

Gaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period.The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42–532 CE...

 during the Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms of Korea

The Three Kingdoms of Korea refer to the ancient Korean kingdoms of Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla, which dominated the Korean peninsula and parts of Manchuria for much of the 1st millennium...

 period. It was centered in present-day Sangju

Sangju

Sangju is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Although Sangju is rather rural, it is very old and was once a key city. Along with Gyeongju, it gives rise to half of the name of the Gyeongsang provinces...

 City, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. Legend indicates that it was founded by a King Taejo, to whom a tomb on Obong Mountain in Hamchang-eup

Hamchang-eup

Hamchang is an eup in Sangju City, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea. It comprises 30 distinct ri , and has a population of 8,427 . There are two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. Hamchang was once the capital of a small kingdom, Goryeong Gaya...

, Sangju, is attributed.

An alliance of marriage was established between Silla

Silla

Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...

 and Goryeong Gaya in 522. For this reason, Goryeong Gaya did not participate in the Baekje

Baekje

Baekje or Paekche was a kingdom located in southwest Korea. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla....

-Daegaya offensive against Silla in 538. However, it does not appear that this alliance was of any lasting benefit to the kingdom. According to both the Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi

Samguk Sagi is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea: Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. The Samguk Sagi is written in Classical Chinese and its compilation was ordered by Goryeo's King Injong Samguk Sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) is a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of...

and the Japanese chronicle Nihonshoki, Goryeong Gaya fell to Silla in 562. This was the same year that Daegaya

Daegaya

Daegaya was a city-state in the Gaya confederacy during the Korean Three Kingdoms period. Daegaya was located in present-day Goryeong County, in North Gyeongsang Province of South Korea...

 was overrun in the south.

The members of today's Hamchang Kim lineage trace their origins to the kings of Goryeong Gaya.