Studies on the language, history and culture of the Ainu have played a prominent role, not only in the making of ethnological theory but also in the development of Japanese studies in Europe and the formation of a European image of Japan. Since the days of the great explorers of the seas northeast of Japan - La Perouse,Krusenstern and Broughton - the Ainu have been viewed as an example of the "Noble Savage", living peacefully and in harmony with other people and nature. Philipp Franz von Siebold, the great European scholar of Japanese culture, was the first to postulate a historical connection between the Ainu and Japan, which was later developed by Heinrich von Siebold, Erwin von Baelz, Koganei Yoshikiyo and others and which played a dominant role in Japanese archaeology, ethnology and linguistics.