Westphalia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Westphalia (German: Westfalen) is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Bielefeld, Dortmund, Gelsenkirchen, Münster, and Osnabrück and included in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. There are small towns in southwestern Indiana and central Michigan also named Westphalia.
The name "West-phalia" probably means "West-Plain". The second word, "Falen", is related to the Germanic words "Field", "Flat", and "Floor" (all of which are related to the Latin "planus" through a common Proto-Indo-European root, *pele, meaning "flat, (to) spread").
Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia" was applied to several different entities in history. For this reason specifications of area and population are greatly differing. They range between 16,000 and 22,000 km² resp. between 4.3 million and 8 million inhabitants.
Originally Westphalia was a part of the Duchy of Saxony, until it was elevated to the rank of a duchy by Emperor Barbarossa in 1180. The Duchy of Westphalia comprised only a small area south of the Lippe River.
The dominant religion is Roman Catholicism, though Lutheranism is important in some of its regions too.
There was a Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. It was founded by Napoleon and was a French vassal 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.
After the Congress of Vienna, the Kingdom of Prussia received a large amount of territory in the Westphalian region and created the province of Westphalia in 1815. The northernmost portions of the former Westphalia, including the town of Osnabrück, had become part of the states of Hanover and Oldenburg.
The present state of North Rhine-Westphalia is composed of the former Prussian province of Westphalia, the northern half of the former Prussian Rhine Province, and the former state of Lippe.
Westphalia is known for the 1648 Peace of Westphalia (in fact the two treaties of Münster and Osnabrück), which ended the Thirty Years' War.
A linguistic definition of Westphalia includes the former Prussian province (except Siegen-Wittgenstein), Lippe and the region around Osnabrück. Present-day common use, however, restricts the notion to the present part of North Rhine-Westphalia, because of the name.
Westphalia is also the location of Baron Thunder-Ten-Tronckh's castle in Voltaire's novella Candide.
Volkswagen released a model of their infamous MicroBus named the "Westfalia."
[edit] Points of interest
The biggest culture cave of Europe is located in Balve. Sir Peter Lely, appointed Principal Painter to Charles II of England in 1662 was born Pieter van der Faes in Westphalia in 1618.
[edit] External links
- Map of Germany centred on region
- Information and resources on the history of Westphalia on the Web portal "Westphalian History"
It was from the city of Westphalia that Voltaire's satirical character, Candide, began his voyage, in the book with the same name, in which Voltaire satirized optimism.
