Nokor Reach Seyma

Nakhon Ratchasima, often called Khorat, stands at the western gateway to the plateau that bears its name. Older settlements, including Sema and Khorakhapura, lay to the west, while the fortified city became an important centre of Siamese authority in the northeast. Its walls and moats protected a place commanding routes between the Chao Phraya basin and the interior plateau.

In the seventeenth century King Narai of Ayutthaya ordered a fortified city established here as a frontier stronghold. Khorat governed neighbouring towns and served as a base for campaigns farther east. During Anouvong's rebellion in 1826, Lao forces seized the town and carried away inhabitants; local tradition celebrates the role of Khunying Mo in resisting them before Siamese forces recovered the area.