Essen (; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: "Esse", Latin: "Assindia") is a German city in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is on the Ruhr River and it is near Cologne, Duisburg and Bochum. 585,000 people live in Essen. Together with Dortmund, Essen is the biggest city of the Ruhr area with its 5,000,000 inhabitants. Essen is often called the shopping city ("Einkaufsstadt") because there are so many malls and shops in it.