Borken (German pronunciation: [ˈbɔʁkn̩] ⓘ) is a small town with about 13,000 inhabitants in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany.

The town is a former centre for brown coal mining and coal-fired electrical generation in Hesse.

After a major disaster – namely a coal dust explosion – the mine was shut down on 1 June 1988.

One particular attraction in Borken is the Hessian Brown Coal Mining Museum (Hessisches Braunkohle Bergbaumuseum) which displays the town's coal-mining tradition.

The municipality of Borken (Hesse) has 14 quarters (in bracket the date of annexation): In the Borken region in the 20th century, the most important brown coal deposit in Hesse was mined and used at a thermal power plant to generate electricity.

Since then, the brown coal mining area has found itself the subject of a restructuring process by a service company.

In the 21st century, the "Borkener Seenland" ("Borken Lakeland") and the Hessian Brown Coal Mining Museum turned the landmarks and the legacy, as well as the coal-mining and power plant era into a leisure and museum area.

In the course of the German reunification said the parliament of Borken in 1991 we should get a partnership with Teuchern, Saxony-Anhalt in the former eastern Germany.

The star is a medieval symbol used by the Counts of Ziegenhain who held sway in the area in the early Middle Ages.

The Hessian Brown Coal Mining Museum, founded in 1992, presents under the theme of "Discover industrial culture – experience landscape change" many exhibits from coal-mining and electrical generation, whose workings are demonstrated for visitors.

The "Coal & Energy" theme park and the adjoining "Borkener See" nature conservation information centre are found Am Freilichtmuseum ("At the Open-Air Museum") before the town's gates.

The now abandoned coal pit is an important site for palaeontological finds, notably of the turtle species Palaeoemys hessiaca and Borkenia oschkinisi, the former named after Hesse, and the latter after Borken.