WESTPHALIA (Ger. Westfalen), a province of Prussia. The area of the province is 7,806 sq.m., its length both from north to south and from east to west is about 130 miles.
Nearly half of Westphalia is an extension of the great North German plain, which is broken by outcrops of the underlying Cretaceous beds, and is not very fertile, except in the Hellweg, a zone between the Haarstrang and the Lippe. There are extensive fens in the north and west, and north of Paderborn is a sandy waste called the Senne. The plain is drained in the north by the Ems and in the south by the Lippe, which rise close together in the Teutoburger Wald. Between their basins are the Vechte and other small rivers flowing into the Zuyder Zee. The triangular southern portion of Westphalia, most of which is included in Sauerland ("south land"), is a rugged region of slate hills and wooded valleys drained chiefly by the Ruhr with its affluents the Lenne, Moline, etc., and in the south by the Sieg and Eder. The hills rise in the south-east to the Rotlager or Rothaargebirge, culminating in the Winterberg plateau with the Kahler Asten (2,713 ft.), the highest summit in the province. The Rotlager gebirge, Eggegebirge and Teutoburger Wald form the watershed between the Weser and the Rhine and Ems. The Weser divides the Wiehengebirge from the Wesergebirge by the narrow pass called Ports Westfalica.
The climate is temperate except in the south, which is cold in winter and has a heavy rainfall. The crops include grain of all kinds, peas and beans, buckwheat, potatoes, fruit and hemp. The cultivation of flax is very extensive, especially in the north-east. Swine, which are reared in great numbers in the plains, yield the famous Westphalian hams; horse-breeding and the rearing of cattle and goats are also important.
The mineral wealth is very great, especially in coal and iron. The production of coal is greater than that of any other province of Prussia. The great Ruhr coal-field extends from the Rhine land into the province as far as Unna, the centre being Dort mund, and there is a smaller coal-field in the north at Ibbenbiiren.
The production of iron ore, chiefly south of the Ruhr, is exceeded in Prussia only by that of the Rhine province. After coal and iron the most valuable minerals are zinc, lead, pyrites and copper. Antimony, quicksilver, stone, marble, slate and potter's clay are also worked, and there are brine springs in the Hellweg and mineral springs at Lippspringe, Oynhausen, etc.
The manufacturing industry of the province, which chiefly de pends upon its mineral wealth, is very extensive. Iron and steel goods are produced in the so-called "Enneper Strasse," the valley of the Ennepe, a small tributary of the Ruhr with the town of Hagen, and in the neighbouring towns of Bochum, Dortmund, Iserlohn and Altena, and also in the Siegen district. The brass and bronze industries are carried on at Iserlohn and Altena, those of tin arid Britannia metal at LUdenscheid ; needles are made at Iserlohn and wire at Altena. The very important linen industry of Bielefeld, Herford, Minden and Warendorf has flourished in this region since the 14th century. Jute is manufactured at Biele feld and cotton goods in the west. Paper is extensively made on the lower Lenne, and leather around Siegen. Other manufactures are glass, chemicals, sugar, sausages and cigars. An active trade is promoted by several trunk lines of railway which cross the province and by the navigation of the Weser (on which Minden has a port), Ems, Ruhr and Lippe. Beverungen is the chief market for corn and Paderborn for wool.
The population in 1933 was 5,038,663, or about 648 per sq.m. It is very unevenly distributed, and in the industrial districts has been increasing very rapidly; it includes a considerable element of Polish workpeople. As at the peace of Westphalia, the bishop rics of Miinster and Paderborn and the former duchy of West phalia are Roman Catholic, while the secularized bishopric of Minden and the former counties of Ravensberg and Mark (former possessions of Brandenburg) and Siegen (Nassau) are predomi nantly Protestant.