In medieval historiography, West Francia (Latin: Francia occidentalis) or the Kingdom of the West Franks (regnum Francorum occidentalium) was the western part of Francia, inhabited and ruled by the Germanic Franks, and forms the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about 840 until 987. West Francia was formed out of the division of the Carolingian Empire after the death of Emperor Louis the Pious, but the east–west division "gradually hardened into the establishment of separate kingdoms".