Young woman, 20+, with goose bumps, standing on the beach, Niendorf at the Baltic Sea, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, Europe on September 1, 2016. (Photo by Alamy Stock Photo)

A Christmas boot and gifts featuring the image of Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump are displayed ahead of Trump's campaign event in Waterloo, Iowa on December 19, 2023. (Photo by Scott Morgan/Reuters)

Amal Amro, the Palestinian-Syrian owner, and an employee give a cat medicine at 'Amal Pets Hotel' in Arbil, the capital of Iraq's northern Kurdish autonomous region, on August 24, 2022. (Photo by Safin Hamed/AFP Photo)

A model wears a creation for the Rick Owens ready-to-wear Spring/Summer 2023 fashion collection presented Thursday, September 29, 2022 in Paris. (Photo by Francois Mori/AP Photo)

Mary Earps of England makes a save during an England Training Session at St George's Park on April 02, 2024 in Burton upon Trent, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/The FA via Getty Images)

Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold of Norway shoots during the women's 10 km pursuit race at the Biathlon World Cup in Hochfilzen, Austria, Saturday, December 19, 2020. (Photo by Matthias Schrader/AP Photo)

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.

Strokkur geyser against cloudy sky at sunset. Strokkur is a fountain geyser located in a geothermal area beside the Hvítá River in Iceland in the southwest part of the country, east of Reykjavík. It is one of Iceland's most famous geysers, erupting once every 6–10 minutes. Its usual height is 15–20 m, although it can sometimes erupt up to 40 m high. (Photo by Teatsche Dijkhuis/Getty Images/EyeEm)