Originally the Visigoths only lasting province in France, the Principality of Septimania, the southern seaboard of France inhabited by the Occitan, declared its independence from the Visigoths in the year 680. In the years following this it successfully defended itself against all forms of Frankish attack - and by the year 1000, had formed an empire that covered Septimania, Provence and Savoy. Its eventual demise happened around the same time as the Frankish Kingdoms; but even so, Septimania remained a separate nation state - and the area it covered at its height maintained a predominantly Occitan population.