Münster and Osnabrück were the sites of the signing of the Treaties of Westphalia which ended the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Today, it is known as the bicycle capital of Germany.

Münster gained the status of a Großstadt (major city) with more than 100,000 inhabitants in 1915. as of 2014, there are 300,000 people living in the city, with about 61,500 students, only some of whom are recorded in the official