page_title: History of Korea
section_title: Silla
hierarchical_section_title: History of Korea / Three Kingdoms of Korea / Silla
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea 한국어: 대한민국 경상북도 경주시
context_page_description: The Lower Paleolithic era in the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began after 6000 BC, followed by the Bronze Age by 2000 BC, and the Iron Age around 700 BC.
  The Korean peninsula has been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, based on the discovery of stone tools and other objects, but the connection to the Korean people today is not clear. Since the sea level was about 130 meters lower than at present from the Last Glacial Period about 100,000 years ago to about 8000 B.C., most of the East China Sea was land, but around 4000 B.C., the sea level rose to about 4000 B.C., and most of the coastline was submerged under the sea. Some studies suggest that the Korean Peninsula was briefly connected to the Japanese Archipelago during the Last Glacial Period by a land bridge formed by drifting sand in the Tsushima Strait.
context_section_description: According to legend, the kingdom of Silla began with the unification of six chiefdoms of the Jinhan confederacy by Bak Hyeokgeose in 57 BCE, in the southeastern area of Korea. Its territory included the present-day port city of Busan, and Silla later emerged as a sea power responsible for destroying Japanese pirates, especially during the Unified Silla period.
  Silla artifacts, including unique gold metalwork, show influence from the northern nomadic steppes and Iranian peoples and especially Persians, with less Chinese influence than are shown by Goguryeo and Baekje.  Silla expanded rapidly by occupying the Nakdong River basin and uniting the city-states.
  By the 2nd century, Silla was a large state, occupying and influencing nearby city-states. Silla gained further power when it annexed the Gaya confederacy in 562. Silla often faced pressure from Goguryeo, Baekje and Japan, and at various times allied and warred with Baekje and Goguryeo.
  Silla was the smallest and weakest of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, but it used cunning diplomatic means to make opportunistic pacts and alliances with the more powerful Korean kingdoms, and eventually Tang China, to its great advantage.
  In 660, King Muyeol of Silla ordered his armies to attack Baekje. General Kim Yu-shin, aided by Tang forces, conquered Baekje. In 661, Silla and Tang moved on Goguryeo but were repelled. King Munmu, son of Muyeol and nephew of Kim, launched another campaign in 667 and Goguryeo fell in the following year.
caption: The pagoda of Bunhwangsa temple, 634 AD, which once stood seven to nine stories in height, yet these collapsed to its current state of three stories
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