Guests attend preview event for “Candytopia”, the outrageously interactive candy wonderland, opening in San Francisco, USA on September 6, 2018. (Photo by Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for Candytopia)

An aircraft drops water during a wildfire near Olympia town, western Greece, Thursday, August 5, 2021. Wildfires rekindled outside Athens and forced more evacuations around southern Greece Thursday as weather conditions worsened and firefighters in a round-the-clock battle stopped the flames just outside the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. (Photo by Giannis Spyrounis/ilialive.gr via AP Photo)

A fan of Colombia cheers prior to a qualifying soccer match between for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Colombia and Chile in Barranquilla, Colombia, Friday, September 10, 2021. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

Team Spain perform their routine during the Team Technical during the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming World Cup 2024 - Stop 2 at Aquatics Centre on May 03, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

Galagos, more commonly known as bush babies, are tiny African primates with remarkable jumping abilities. Thanks to the elastic energy stored in the tendons of their lower legs, small-eared galagos can jump 6 feet straight up in the air. (Photo by Traer Scott/Chronicle Books)

A woman poses with her tattoo during the Shanghai Tattoo Extreme & Body Art Expo 2017 in Shanghai, China September 2, 2017. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

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.

Arabian Saluki dogs chase a lure during a race at the Mazayin Dhafra Camel Festival in the desert near the city of Madinat Zayed, 150 kms west of Abu Dhabi, on December 26, 2017. The festival, which attracts participants from around the Gulf region, includes a camel beauty contest, a display of UAE handcrafts and other activities aimed at promoting the country's folklore. (Photo by Karim Sahib/AFP Photo)