Samhan in the context of "Sino-Korean vocabulary"

The state of Jin (Korean pronunciation: [tɕin]) was a confederacy of statelets which occupied some portion of the southern Korean peninsula from the 4th to 2nd centuries BC, bordering the Korean Kingdom of Gojoseon to the north. Its capital was somewhere south of the Han River. It preceded the Samhan confederacies, each of which claimed to be the successor of the Jin state.

The Proto–Three Kingdoms period (or Samhan period) refers to the proto-historical period in the Korean Peninsula, after the fall of Gojoseon and before the maturation of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla into full-fledged kingdoms. It is a subdivision of what is traditionally called Korea's Three Kingdoms period and covers the first three centuries of the Common Era, corresponding to the later phase of the Korean Iron Age.

The Kaya confederacy (Korean: 가야; Hanja: 加倻; pronounced [ka.ja]), also romanized as Gaya confederacy, was a Korean 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 Kaya chronology is AD 42–532. Geumgwan Kaya, the ruling state of the confederacy, was conquered in 532 and the last holdout, Daegaya fell in 562. According to archaeological evidence in the third and fourth centuries some of the city-states of Byeonhan evolved into the Kaya confederacy, which was later annexed by Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The individual polities that made up the Kaya confederacy have been characterized as small city-states. The material culture remains of Kaya culture mainly consist of burials and their contents of mortuary goods that have been excavated by archaeologists. Archaeologists interpret mounded burial cemeteries of the late third and early fourth centuries such as Daeseong-dong in Gimhae and Bokcheon-dong in Busan as the royal burial grounds of Kaya polities.

Jinhan (Korean: 진한; pronounced [tɕin.ɦan]) was a loose confederacy of chiefdoms that existed from around the 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE in the southern Korean peninsula, to the east of the Nakdong River valley, Gyeongsang Province. Jinhan was one of the Samhan (or "Three Hans"), along with Byeonhan and Mahan. Apparently descending from the Jin state of southern Korea, Jinhan was absorbed by the later Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea.

Yemaek or Yamaek 濊貊 were a people of Koreans who resided in ancient Manchuria. Whether they were: homogenous; heterogenous of Ye 濊 and Maek 貊; or whether Yemaek were a branch of Maek remains debated. However, the most accepted model is that they were ethnolinguistically identical but remained socially and politically disparate identities. The first Yemaek state to appear were 朝鮮 (Joson) that fell in 108 BC. They were renamed Old Joson after Joson Kingdom were later founded in 1392 AD: ostensibly as a successor state to Old Joson. Yemaek together with Han 韓 acted as the foundations for the formation of the Korean national identity. Of the three kingdoms who succeeded in forming centralised bureaucracy, 高句麗 (Gogooryo) had the strongest connection with Yemaek whereas 新羅 (Silla) had stronger Han identity and 百濟 (Baekje) were considered something in-between. Thus, the study of Yemaek is inevitably centralised around Gogooryo.

It remains controversial whether Gogooryo were: Ye; Maek; Yemaek; a branch of Yemaek; or Ye whose exonym were Maek due to sparse indigenous sources. However, it does appear Gogooryo had been an accumulation of many peoples such as Daesoo Maek (大水貊), Sosoo Maek (小水貊) and purportedly Yang Maek (梁貊). Furthermore, people who resided in the river basin of Amnok River began to be referred to as Maek somewhere near Anno Domini and it's hypothesised they amalgamated with Ye whom migrated from Booyo. They further accelerated their expansion by further conquering nearby tribes, thus forming a unified Yemaek identity under one sovereign.