Former province of Prussia , now part of Germany.
It comprises (with the former state of Lippe) the present German state of North Rhine–Westphalia and parts of the states of Lower Saxony and Hesse. Settled by Saxons called Westphalians с AD 700, Westphalia was created a duchy (1180), which for several centuries was administered for the archbishop of Cologne . The Peace of Westphalia (1648) was signed at Münster . In 1807 Napoleon created for his brother, Vienna in 1815, it became a province of Prussia in 1816, with its capital at Münster. Its cities suffered severe bombings in World War II.