Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

The Lumix GX1 single lens reflex (SLR) camera with 14-42 mm powerzoom lens is displayed at the Panasonic booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 10, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new camera comes with an external viewfinder and flash and an ISO up to 12,800. The camera as shown sells for USD 949; the camera body alone is USD 799. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Honorable Mention: “The Storm”. During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Photo location: Kocaeli, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Aytül Akbaş/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Dancers from Tokyo wearing traditional costumes perform during a celebration event, a day before Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's royal parade in front of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan November 9, 2019. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

A woman cleans her boat after a snowfall in Srinagar, December 13, 2019. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

Maya Nakanishi of Japan competes en route to winning the women's T64 long jump at the World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai on November 11, 2019. (Photo by Christopher Pike/Reuters)

A local farmer Theophilus Mwendwa runs through a swarm of desert locusts to chase them away in the bush near Enziu, Kitui County, some 200km east of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, 24 January 2020. Large swarms of desert locusts have been invading Kenya for weeks, after having infested some 70 thousand hectares of land in Somalia which the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has termed the “worst situation in 25 years” in the Horn of Africa. FAO cautioned that it poses an “unprecedented threat” to food security and livelihoods in the region. (Photo by Dai Kurokawa/EPA/EFE)

People mourn next to the body of Muddasir Khan, who was wounded on Tuesday in a clash between people demonstrating for and against a new citizenship law, after he succumbed to his injuries, in a riot affected area in New Delhi, February 27, 2020. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)