Canadian singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez performs during the Corona Capital music festival in Mexico City, Saturday, November 16, 2024. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

Smithfield meat porters march on the Home Office, bearing a petition which calls for an end to all immigration into Britain, 25th August 1972. (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.

Cairo-based artist Chanel Arif's paints for her art project called After Dinner that uses humans and their surroundings as her canvas, in her gallery in the capital of Cairo, Egypt March 2, 2017. (Photo by Sherif Fahmy/Reuters)

A girl lights a candle as she marks the anniversary of 2015 Nepal earthquake, at Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal April 25, 2017. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

A “colacho” (a person dressed up as a devil) chases people during “El salto del Colacho”, the baby jumping festival in the village of Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos on June 3, 2018. (Photo by Cesar Manso/AFP Photo)

A woman walks at the Boulevard of the River the eve of the International Women's Day, in Cali, Colombia, 07 March 2019. (Photo by Ernesto Guzman Jr./EPA/EFE)

In this Monday, March 18, 2019 photo, a street artist performs in Caracas, Venezuela. Venezuelans are facing a severe economic and political crisis as President Nicolas Maduro has remained in power despite heavy pressure from the United States and other countries arrayed against him, managing to retain the loyalty of most of Venezuela's military leaders. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)