a town of Rhenish Prussia, 18 mi. n. e. of Dusseldorf. It has a fine cathedral dating from 873, one of the oldest churches in Germany. The town has grown recently with great rapidity and is celebrated for the steel and iron works of Krupp, the most extensive in the world, employing about 45,000 workmen. The rifled steel cannon made here are supplied to most of the armies of Europe. Essen is situated in the center of a rich coal region. The town dates from the ninth century. Population in 1905, 129,270.