page_title: Mueang Yasothon District
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Mueang Yasothon District / History
caption_attribution_description: Lion Gate of Yasothon's Wat Singh Tha
context_page_description: Mueang Yasothon is the capital district of the province of Yasothon in northeastern Thailand on the Chi River. Sub-district Nai Mueang determines the city limits of the town of Yasothon.
context_section_description: According to the chronicles of Mueang Yasothon, in 1795 Phra Chao Worawongsa (Phra Wo), Minister of Vientiane, and several others set off to live with the king of Champassak. Along the way they came to a jungle where spirits dwelt, and seeing that it was a good place, they built a village there next to the grounds of an abandoned wat. They called it Wat Singh Tha (วัดสิงห์ท่า), which remains to this day. The village they called Ban Singh Tha (บ้านสิงห์ท่า). Singh is a mythical lion; tha (ท่า) means 'pose'. 
   A marker for a chedi erected by Wat Singh Tha says that, during the Thonburi Period, grandson Kham Su (ท้าวคำสู) called the settlement Ban Singh Thong (บ้านสิงห์ทอง Ban Gold Lion). The wat, which had been deserted with dense jungle blocking the way to the river landing, was re-built and renamed after the new village. The change from thong ('gold') to tha (ท่า) was influenced by two factors: tha means 'port' or 'landing' and also means 'pose' with many connotations. Thus the change in name to Singh Tha means 'port lion' and also 'imposing lion' such as those posed on the Lion Gate, and on pedestals on the temple grounds.
  In 1814, King Rama II renamed Ban Singh Tha to Yasothon and raised its status to mueang.
  Yasothon was the national winner of the World Wildlife Fund's 2018 "One Planet City Challenge". The municipality was lauded for its efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, by means of recycling efforts and transport initiatives.
caption: Wat Singh Tha Lion Gate
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