Shortlisted: The Life: A narrow strip, Río Tinto, Huelva, Spain. A narrow strip of road divides ochre-coloured and fresh waters. Trees wait on the fresh side of the road opposite the toxic waters of a nearby mine reservoir. (Photo by Roberto Bueno/CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2021)

A delegate poses for a photo at the end of the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on Saturday, October 22, 2022. President Xi Jinping is officially set for a third term surrounded by allies, after key Communist Party officials without close ties to the Chinese leader exited the nation's top leadership body. (Photo by Bloomberg)

Supporters of Lebanese President Michel Aoun hold up a giant Lebanese flag as he delivers a speech outside the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, October 30, 2022. Aoun left Lebanon's presidential palace Sunday marking the end of his six-year term without a replacement, leaving the small nation in a political vacuum that is likely to worsen its historic economic meltdown. (Photo by Bilal Hussein/AP Photo)

More than 1,200 vintage posters that would send any movie buff into orbit were discovered in an Ohio garage, including the only known copy of an almost 7-foot-tall creation for the 1947 reissue of “Dracula” that could sell for $40,000. The Dallas-based Heritage Auctions in Dallas puts them all on the block March 22 and 23, including some rare specimens from the silent movie era. (Photo by Courtesy Heritage Auctions)

An actor carries a cross as he plays the role of Jesus Christ in a re-enactment of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) during a Holy Week procession, in preparation for Good Friday celebrations, in Luque, Paraguay, on March 27, 2013. Holy Week is celebrated in many Christian traditions during the week before Easter. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)

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)

A boat, center, is surrounded by Japan Cost Guard's patrol boats after some activists descended from the boat on Uotsuri Island, one of the islands of Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, in East China Sea Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Regional tensions flared on the emotional anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender as activists from China and South Korea used Wednesday's occasion to press rival territorial claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese authorities. The 14 people had traveled by boat from Hong Kong to the disputed islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. (Photo by Yomiuri Shimbun/Masataka Morita/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.