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.