Dorsten

Dorsten (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʁstn̩] ; Westphalian: Dössen) is a town in the Recklinghausen district of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Dorsten has a population of about 75,000. Dorsten is situated on the western rim of Westphalia bordering the Rhineland. Its historical old town lies on the south bank of the river Lippe and the Wesel–Datteln Canal and was granted city rights in 1251. During the twentieth century, the town was enlarged in its north by the villages of the former Herrlichkeit Lembeck. While Dorsten's northern districts are thus shaped by the rural Münsterland with its many historical castles, just south of the town the Ruhr region begins, Germany's largest urban agglomeration with more than seven million inhabitants. The exact linguistic derivation of the word "Dorsten" is unknown, leaving the meaning of the town's name unclear.