ESSENTUKI, a town in the Terek county of the North Caucasian Area, U.S.S.R., in lat. 44° 2' N., long. 42° 48' E. It is I I miles west by rail from Pyatigorsk, altitude 2,096 feet. In the last thirty years the population has increased from 9,974 to 23,218 (in 1926) and the town now has an electric station, and a factory for obtaining oil from sunflower seeds. Its alkaline and sulphur alkaline mineral waters, similar to those of Ems, Selters and Vichy, are much visited in summer. The climate shows great variations in temperature.