Westphalia

 

Grandduchy of Westfalia Großherzogtum Westfalen
State of Germany
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Westfalenlied "Song of Westphalia"
Country	Germany
Capital	Münster
Government
• Type	parliamentary monarchy
• Body	Landtag of Westphalia
• Grand Duke, represented by the King of Prussia	Georg Friedrich
• Minister-President	Paul Schulz (SPD)
Area
• Total	20,214.8 km2 (7,805.0 sq mi)
Population (2019)
• Total	14,343,871
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code	DE-WF
GRP (nominal)	528 billion (2019)
GRP per capita	40,000 (2019)
HDI (2018)	0.947

Westphalia, officially the Grandduchy of Westphalia (German Westfalen)is one of the 24 states of Germany. Westphalia is located between the Weser river in the east and the Rhineland in the west. To the south it borders the Grand Duchy of Hesse and the Principality of Waldeck, the Kingdom of Hanover to the north and the Principality of Lippe in the east. The largest metropolitan area is the Ruhr Area, one of Germany's largest economic and cultural centers. Here are the largest cities of the region located: Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg and Bochum. Other larger cities include Münster, Bielefeld and Paderborn.

Etymology

The name "Westfalai" appears for the first time in a document from around 775 AD within the Royal Frankish Annals and refers to the western parts of the Saxon settlement areas, however no sub-tribe named "Fahlen" or with a similar name appears. Instead, the name for the region appears to come from the Old norse word fal or falah, meaning flat, low or field and refers to the geography of the area. The term Eastphalia or Ostfalen refers to the Saxon areas between the Leine and the Elbe rivers but fell out of use and should therefore not be confused with East Westphalia, which roughly encompasses the historic Prussian district of Minden.