The New International Encyclopædia/Westphalia
WESTPHA′LIA. A province of Prussia, bounded on the north and east by Hanover, on the east by Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe, Brunswick, Hesse-Nassau, and Waldeck, on the southeast by Hesse-Nassau, on the southwest by the Rhine Province, and on the northwest by the Netherlands (Map: Prussia, B 3). Area, 7803 square miles. It is nearly altogether mountainous and hilly, the highest point being about 2700 feet above the sea. The region belongs to the basins of the Rhine, Ems, and Weser.
Westphalia is rich in iron and coal. The output of coal in 1900 was valued at $90,000,000. Dortmund is the chief coal centre. In iron the province leads all the others in Prussia, the value of the output for 1900 having been $28,000,000. Westphalia also ranks among the first Prussian provinces in the production of zinc and copper. Lead and other ores are also mined. The stone output is heavy and the salt industry considerable. The supply of coal and iron has lent great impetus to manufacturing interests. There are numerous iron works, and machinery and all varieties of metal wares are largely manufactured. The region between the Weser and the Lippe has for centuries been the seat of important linen industries. Woolen cloths, hosiery, and cottons are among the conspicuous manufactures. Paper, leather, and wood carvings also figure extensively in the shipments. In 1900 sugar was produced to the amount of 17,620 tons.
About 40 per cent. of the total area of Westphalia is in farms, gardens, and vineyards, about 28 per cent. in woodland, and about 25 per cent. in meadows. Rye and oats lead in importance among the cereals. Potatoes and wheat are produced in considerable quantities, and the province is noted for excellent flax. Dairying and gardening thrive, and the cattle and swine industries are prominent.
The province embraces the three administrative districts of Münster, Minden, and Arnsberg. Münster is the capital. It sends 17 members to the Reichstag and 31 to the Prussian Landtag. The population in 1900 was 3,187,777—about evenly divided between Protestants and Catholics. At the head of the excellent provincial education system stands the Academy of Münster.
History. The ancient duchy of the Saxons was divided into Westfalen (Westphalia) in the west, Ostfalen (Eastphalia) in the east, and Engern, between the two. With the dissolution of the Saxon duchy at the close of the twelfth century the name Westphalia came to designate a duchy ruled by the archbishops of Cologne. Its territory lay in the southeastern part of what is now the Province of Westphalia. The archbishops held sway till 1803. The district then passed to Hesse-Darmstadt, which in 1815 transferred it to Prussia. This duchy was one of many sovereignties, which arose in the Middle Ages in the present Province of Westphalia. In the seventeenth century Brandenburg acquired dominion in the region by obtaining possession of the counties of Mark and Ravensberg and the See of Minden. The Congress of Vienna (1814–15) assigned to Prussia the whole of Westphalia within its present limits. One of the circles into which the Holy Roman Empire was divided was called the Westphalian Circle. It embraced an extensive region between the Rhine and Weser, extending northward to the North Sea, and a large territory west of the Rhine, comprising part of the modern Netherlands and Belgium. See Westphalia, Kingdom of.
Consult: Weddigen, Westfalen, Land und Leute (Paderborn, 1896); Schücking and Freiligrath, Das malerische und romantische Westfalen (ib., 1898); Schulze, Die Provinz Westfalen (Minden, 1900).