Bottrop is a city in west central Germany, on the Rhine-Herne Canal, in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen). Bottrop is in the Ruhr industrial area, It is next to Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail center. There are factories producing coal-tar derivatives, chemicals, textiles, and machinery. The population is currently 119,655. Bottrop grew as a mining center beginning in the 1860s and was chartered as a city in 1921. In 1975 it was put together with the unification with the neighbor communities of Gladbeck and Kirchhellen, but Gladbeck left in 1976.

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History

The place is first heard of in 1150, as Borthorpe. This name means village on the hillside. In the year 1423, Bottrop is awarded the status of a market town. In 1786 the first cotton mill opens. Coal mining starts in 1856. The city gets town privileges in 1919. In 1953, the population passed 100.000 people for the first time.