Westphalia

Westphalia Westfalen
State part and historic region of North Rhine-Westphalia
Prinzipalmarkt in Münster (1st row), Emperor William Monument at the Porta Westfalica and Wewelsburg castle (2nd row), Nordkirchen Castle and skyline of Dortmund (3rd row), town center of Freudenberg (4th row)
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Westfalenlied
Location of Westphalia in Germany.
Westphalia in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia borders on the Northern Rhineland in the west and Lippe in the northeast.
Coordinates (geographic center of Westphalia): 51°36′30″N 7°56′00″E / 51.608333°N 7.933333°E / 51.608333; 7.933333Coordinates: 51°36′30″N 7°56′00″E / 51.608333°N 7.933333°E / 51.608333; 7.933333
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Governmental districts	3 Arnsberg Detmold Münster
Districts and independent cities	26 Borken Coesfeld Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Gütersloh Herford Hochsauerlandkreis Höxter Märkischer Kreis Minden-Lübbecke Olpe Paderborn Recklinghausen Siegen-Wittgenstein Soest Steinfurt Unna Warendorf Bielefeld Bochum Bottrop Dortmund Gelsenkirchen Hagen Hamm Herne Münster
Further cities, towns and municipalities	206
Founded	April 30, 1815 (Province of Westphalia; other predecessors existed since the Early Middle Ages.) August 23, 1946 (as a part of North Rhine-Westphalia)
Area
• Total	7,802 sq mi (20,210 km2)
Highest elevation	2,766 ft (843 m)
Population (Dec. 31, 2015)
• Total	7,918,772
• Density	1,000/sq mi (390/km2)
Demonym(s)	Persons: the Westphalian (der Westfale [male] / die Westfälin [female]), the Westphalians (die Westfalen) Adjective: Westphalian (westfälisch)
Time zone	Central European Time (CET) (UTC+01:00)
• Summer (DST)	Central European Summer Time (CEST) (UTC+02:00)

Westphalia (/wɛstˈfeɪliə/; German: Westfalen pronounced [vɛstˈfaːlən]) is a region in northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of 7,802 sq mi (20,208 km²) and 7.9 million inhabitants.

The region is almost identical with the Province of Westphalia which was a part of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1918 and the Free State of Prussia from 1918 to 1946. In 1946, Westphalia merged with the Northern Rhineland, another former part of Prussia, to form the newly created state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1947, the state with its two historic parts was joined by a third one: Lippe, a former principality and free state.

All of the 17 districts and 9 independent cities of Westphalia and Lippe's only district are members of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association ().

Previous to the formation of Westphalia as a province of Prussia and later state part of North Rhine-Westphalia, the term “Westphalia” was applied to different territories of different sizes such as a part of the ancient Duchy of Saxony, the Duchy of Westphalia or the Kingdom of Westphalia. The Westphalian language, a variant of the German language, spreads north of Westphalia's borders into southwest Lower Saxony.