Hirari Ikeda, a well-known Harajuku street fashion personality, on the street in Shibuya. (Photo by Tokyo Fashion)

Vincent Yu is a multiple award winner who won Honorable Mention in the 2013 Photographer of the Year category for Pictures of the Year International. Photo: A statue of Hotei Buddha sits in the debris in the tsunami-destroyed town of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan Friday, April 1, 2011. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

David Guttenfelder was born in Iowa and graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology. He has worked for the AP since 1994 based in Kenya, the Ivory Coast, India and Japan. He is currently AP’s chief Asia photographer and his feature work has been used prominently in editorial publications throughout the world including Time and National Geographic. Photo: U.S. soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, fire mortars at known enemy firing positions from a base in the Pech River Valley in Afghanistan's Kunar province, Saturday, October 24, 2009. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

A model performs on the Toyota FV2 concept car during the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition at China International Exhibition Center on April 21, 2014 in Beijing, China. More than 2,000 automotive enterprises from 14 countries and regions participated in the 2014 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition from April 20 to April 29. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) is shot by would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peter's Square, 13th May 1981. His attendants help him into his white jeep after the incident. (Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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.

A man smokes a marijuana cigarette to celebrate 420, in Times Square amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in New York City, New York, U.S., April 20, 2021. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Members of the special operations team conduct a building climbing training in Qinzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, April 13, 2021. (Photo credit should read Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)