BOCHUM

city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies in the heart of the industrial Ruhr district, between the cities of Essen (west) and Dortmund (east). Chartered in 1298 and 1321, it passed to the duchy of Cleves (Kleve) in 1461 and to Brandenburg in the early 17th century. Bochum was a small agricultural town until the development of its iron, coal, and steel industries in the mid-19th century. It is now a commercial and cultural centre for a densely populated part of the Ruhr. Its Diocese Church, or Propsteikirche (1599), is the only historic building intact after the destruction of the city centre by Allied bombing in World War II. In the suburbs, however, the 13th-century Blankenstein Castle and an 11th-century church at Bochum-Stiepel still stand. Since 1946 Bochum has been rebuilt. The city presents a modern appearance with new schools, housing estates, sports facilities, and a theatre. Bochum is the seat of Ruhr University (1965) and has an institute for satellite and space research, a planetarium (1964), and a college of administration, industry, and foreign trade. It also supports a municipal orchestra and a zoo. In 1975 Wattenscheid, a neighbouring city, was united with Bochum and serves, to some extent, as a dormitory suburb for the adjacent industrial complexes of Gelsenkirchen and Essen. Until the late 1950s, coal mining was the city's economic mainstay; its importance is shown by the mining college, geologic and mining museums, the mining research institute, and the headquarters building of the miners' trade union, insurance, and cooperative organizations. The closure of the last mine in 1973 marked a new pattern in Bochum's economy. New industries have grown, particularly car factories. Metallurgy and allied industries are important, and chemicals, textiles, beer, tobacco products, and electrical items are also manufactured. Pop. (1996 est.) 400,395.