Khon Kaen

Khon Kaen lies in the Chi River basin on the Khorat Plateau. In the late eighteenth century Thao Sak led people from the Suwannaphum country to settle near Bueng Bon. In 1797 the Siamese king raised their settlement to the rank of a town and appointed him its first governor, with the title Phra Nakhon Si Borirak. Khon Kaen was one of the new towns formed as Lao-speaking communities spread across the plateau.