The town of Nakhon Ratchasima, once also called Khorat, lies 220 km (137 mi.) north of Bangkok on the south-west edge of the Khorat Plateau. During recent decades it has become a center of Thailand's most structurally weak
region; as railway lines from the north and the east meet here, Nakhon Ratchasima is of importance for the delivery of supplies to the north-east (which accounts for a third of Thailand's area). A good two-thirds of the region's population (approximately 2.2 million) live in the area around Nakhon Ratchasima, including many Laotians and Cambodians.
By car: from Bangkok Highway 1 as far as Saraburi, then Highway 2 ("Friendship Highway", 265 km (165 mi.)). From the Gulf of Thailand (at Chonburi) Highway 304 (260 km (162 mi.)).
By rail: on the Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani and Bangkok-Udon Thani lines.
By bus: from Bangkok Northern Bus Terminal.
By air: daily from Bangkok.
The town is thought to have been founded at the end of the 13th c. as an outpost of the Thai principalities against the Khmer, when fortifications were built on the orders of King Narai (1656-88). Chronicles record an attack by Khmer troops in 1826 (Khunying Mo memorial in front of the western town gate).
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