This section is from the book "Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World", by David Patrick. Also available from Amazon: Chambers's Concise Gazetteer Of The World.
Westphalia, a former duchy and kingdom, a Prussian province, named from the Westfalen, a western tribe of Saxons, as distinguished from the Ostfalen, nearer the Elbe. About 1180 it came under the Archbishops of Cologne, as Dukes of Westphalia. It was the headquarters of the Vehmgerichte. In 1807 Westphalia, with parts of Hesse, Hanover, Brunswick, and Saxony, was made into a kingdom for Jerome Bonaparte; in 1813 the kingdom came to an end, and the Congress of Vienna assigned the present province to Prussia. It has an area of 7892 sq. m. (larger than Wales) and a pop. (1900) of 3,187,777, of whom 1,616,377 were Catholics. The northern portion belongs to the great North German plain, and is not fertile; the south is hilly, with fertile valleys. West-phalian hams are still in high repute; but Westphalia's peculiar wealth lies in its mineral treasures - iron, zinc, copper, sulphur, with lead, antimony, etc. Iron-working is largely carried on, and linen-weaving has been an important industry since the 14th century - Bielefeld being the great centre. Munster has cotton-works.
 
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