A sense of European superiority affected the way non-Western history was represented in Western historiography. The most significant distortion of the past lies in Western attitudes towards Africa. Africa was approached by Western scholars during the first half of the 20th century as an anthropological subject. European scholars, such as those at the London-based International Institute of African Languages ​​and Cultures, placed Africa in an "anthropological present" that treated Africa as a static, unchanging, and anti-historical place, reinforcing and legitimizing thus the doctrine that change must come from modern Europe. This attitude functions as an antithesis to the positivist European historiography of the time and helped to justify imperial national efforts. The position of Africa as an anthropological subject as well as the idea of ​​an unchanging and historyless society have retarded the historical study of the region and therefore distorted our knowledge of African history. The attitude of the imperial era towards the study of African history is reflected by Hengel in his lectures, The Philosophy of History: "We will therefore leave Africa...and that is not necessary.