Daegaya was located in present-day Goryeong County, in North Gyeongsang Province of South Korea.
According to "Geographies" in the Samguk sagi, Daegaya existed for about 520 years from the first king, Ijinasi (이진아시왕), to the last, Doseolji (도설지왕).
King Haji (하지, 荷知) sent an embassy to Namje (南齊, in Southern Qi) in 479.
Daegaya developed quickly and played a major role in the Gaya confederacy in the 5th century AD, partly because of its advanced steel-making craft, but its progress and that of the confederacy were limited by the neighboring kingdoms of Baekje and Silla, which were more fully developed as centralized political entities.
Incidental historical records and archaeological findings indicate a highly stratified aristocratic society in Daegaya and the Gaya confederacy at this time.