ASSEN, capital of the province of Drente, Holland, 16m. by rail S. of Groningen, at the junction of two canals running north and south to Groningen and Meppel respectively. Pop. (193o) 17,656. Many remains of early man from this region are in the Leyden museum. Assen was the site of a small convent in the middle ages around which the present town gathered. Bishop Otto II. (of Utrecht) was murdered here in 1237. There is a chamber of commerce and a museum of antiquities, and it is an important market town.