Korean Kingdoms and Their Rulers: Sources, Dynasties and Dates

Contents5

• The main dynasties and periods
• Three Kingdoms rule and unification
• Goryeo and named rulers
• Baekje kings and Joseon founders
• The histories behind the dates

Korean ruler chronology has several overlapping kingdoms and more than one way to spell their names in English. The Three Kingdoms were Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla. Gaya was a federation in the same wider period, not a fourth name for one of those kingdoms.

This reference gives the broad political sequence and examples of rulers in the sources. It keeps traditional founding dates separate from precisely documented events. The ancient cultures reference gives a wider regional comparison.

The main dynasties and periods

The Met's educational chronology explicitly labels the early Three Kingdoms dates as traditional. Its Unified Silla boundary differs from the museum's 500-1000 chronology, which uses 676. The table preserves that difference rather than pretending there is one undisputed date.

Three Kingdoms rule and unification

The Met's account of Korea in 1-500 places Goguryeo in the north, Baekje in the southwest and Silla in the southeast. Its discussion links royal authority with aristocratic power and diplomacy. A kingdom's traditional founding story therefore should not be read as proof that all its later institutions existed from that first year.

The 500-1000 account records Silla's defeat of Gaya in 562, Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668. It then dates the withdrawal of Tang troops to 676. That explains why two charts can use different boundaries for unification while describing related events.

Goryeo and named rulers

The museum identifies Wang Geon as the founder of the Goryeo dynasty in 918. Its 1000-1400 chronology dates King Injong's reign to 1122-1146 and records the presentation of the Samguk sagi in 1145.

Wang Geon founded a dynasty while Silla still existed. The overlap in the two dynastic ranges reflects competing states, rather than two spellings for the same crown.

Baekje kings and Joseon founders

The National Museum of Korea's Journal of Korean Art and Archaeology dates King Mu of Baekje to 600-641 and King Uija to 641-660. It describes conflict with Silla during their reigns and Baekje's alliance with Goguryeo. Uija's reign ends in the year of Baekje's defeat.

The Republic of Korea's account of royal dress identifies Taejo, born Yi Seong-gye, as the first Joseon king. It gives his reign as 1392-1398 and Sejong's as 1418-1450.

Taejo is a founder's royal title, while Yi Seong-gye is the personal name in this Joseon entry. Wang Geon's Goryeo foundation and Yi Seong-gye's Joseon foundation belong to different dynasties.

The histories behind the dates

The Met dates the Samguk sagi to 1145 and the Samguk yusa to about 1285. These surviving works were compiled long after many early events. Their distance from the period described is part of the evidence, not a reason to discard them or to treat every early date as certain.

A spelling change also need not mean a new dynasty. Goryeo and Koryŏ are romanisation variants; keep the original term beside your preferred spelling when comparing records. The dating method explains how to label uncertainty, while the monarchy overview explains institutions without ranking unrelated cultures by one title system.

For another country's sequence, browse the territorial ruler references. Overlapping dates are normal when separate kingdoms coexist; they are not necessarily errors to be removed.