Warendorf () is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the northern part of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Neighboring districts are

Steinfurt Steinfurt (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Steinfurt. From –1806, it was the capital of the County of Steinfurt. Geography Steinfurt is situated north-west of Münster, North Rhine-Westp ...

Osnabrück (district) Osnabrück () is a district (''Landkreis'') in the southwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. With 2,122 km2 it is the second largest district of Lower Saxony. History The district in its present form was established on July 1, 1972 by merging t ...

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the administrative region of Detmold (administrative region), Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a Gütersloh (distric ...

, Soest, district-free city

Hamm Hamm may refer to: Places ;Germany: * Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, a city north-east of Dortmund * Hamm (Sieg), a municipality in the eponymous ''Verbandsgemeinde'' in the district of Altenkirchen, Rhineland-Palatinate * Hamm, Bitburg-Prüm, part ...

Coesfeld Coesfeld (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Koosfeld'') is the capital of the Coesfeld (district), district of Coesfeld in the Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. History Coesfeld received its city rights in 1197, but was first ...

and the district-free city

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

History

In medieval times the region was part of the

Prince-Bishopric of Münster The Prince-Bishopric of Münster (, or ) was a large ecclesiastical principality in the Holy Roman Empire, located in the northern part of today's North Rhine-Westphalia and western Lower Saxony. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, ...

. When it became part of the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n Province of

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

, the new government in 1816 created the districts of Warendorf and Beckum. In 1975 these two districts were merged to form today's district.

Geography

The district is located east of the city of

. The

Ems Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

river runs through the district from east to west. The

Lippe River The Lippe () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine and in length with an elevation difference of 125 metres and a catchment area of 4.890 km². The source is located at the edge of the Teutoburg ...

forms part of the southern border of the district.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is a combination of the two coats of the precursor districts Warendorf and Beckum. The two sun roses are taken from the Warendorf coat of arms, which took it from the family coat of arms of the Vogt family in Warendorpe. The wavy line comes from the Beckum coat of arms, and symbolized the richness of water in the area, especially the

Werse The Werse [] (river no. 32) is a , left-hand tributary of the Ems (river), River Ems in Münsterland, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. The Drainage basin, catchment area of the Werse is 762.47 km². Its name may be derived from a pre-Indo- ...

river. The coat of arms was granted in 1976.

Towns and municipalities

References

External links

Official website
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Warendorf (District) Districts of North Rhine-Westphalia Münster (region)