Province of Westphalia

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Westphalia (Westfalen in German) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 until 1946.

Between 1807 and 1813 there was a Kingdom of Westphalia, founded by Napoleon and was a French client state. This state only shared the name with the historical region, it contained mostly Hessian and Eastphalian regions and only a relatively small part of Westphalia.

Although Prussia had long owned territory in Westphalia, King Frederick William III had preferred to incorporate the Kingdom of Saxony first. It was not until the Congress of Vienna in 1815 that the Province of Westphalia came into being. The province was formed from several different territories:

• regions in Westphalia under Prussian rule since before 1800 (the Principlaity of Minden and the counties of Mark, Ravensberg and Tecklenburg)
• the bishoprics of Münster and Paderborn, acquired by Prussia in 1802/03
• the small county of Limburg, acquired in 1808
• the Duchy of Westphalia, placed under Prussian rule after the Congress of Vienna. The northernmost portions of the duchy, including the town of Osnabrück, became parts of the states of Hanover and Oldenburg.
• the Sayn-Wittgensteiner principalities of Hohenstein and Berleburg, along with the principality of Nassau-Siegen (in 1817)

In 1816, the district of Essen was transferred to the Rhine Province.

After the end of World War II, the province was merged with the northern half of the Rhine Province to form the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946, with the addition of the former state of Lippe in 1947.