Inês Carvalho (C), accompanied by her sister and cousin, is helped by her aunt to dress up at Alfama neighborhood in Lisbon on June 12, 2014. Carvalho, 18, is one of the revelers from the Alfama march and every Saint Anthony's day, Lisbon's protector, she parades with several other typical neighborhoods of the city. (Photo by Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP Photo)

Men slide in the mud during the Boryeong Mud Festival at Daecheon Beach in Boryeong, South Korea, Saturday, July 22, 2017. The 20th annual mud festival features mud wrestling and mud sliding. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

A person poses on the track during a fashion competition at the Durban July horse racing event in Durban, South Africa, July 2, 2016. (Photo by Rogan Ward/Reuters)

Artist Emiliano Paolini (R), and his partner Marianela Perelli, show their “Ken” doll that they have re-designed into the religious figure of Jesus Christ at their workshop in Rosario, north of Buenos Aires September 23, 2014. Paolini and Perelli have adapted religious figures such as Jesus Christ, Moses and the Virgin of Guadalupe to Mattel's line of Barbie and Ken dolls and are working on more religious figures, although they say they will not be using the Prophet Muhammad to avoid controversy. They plan to have a gallery show in Buenos Aires next October. (Photo by Enrique Marcarian/Reuters)

People cross a street against strong wind and heavy rainfall under the influence of Typhoon Haiyan, in Sanya, Hainan province November 10, 2013. One of the most powerful storms ever recorded killed at least 10,000 people in the central Philippines, a senior police official said on Sunday, with huge waves sweeping away entire coastal villages and devastating the region's main city. Despite weakening, the storm is likely to cause heavy rains, flooding, strong winds and mudslides as it makes its way north in the South China Sea. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

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.

Emma White, of Team Cyclocrossworld, hits the dirt hard during the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championship Elite Women's race at the Valmont Bike Park in Boulder, Colorado, on January 12, 2014. (Photo by Jeremy Papasso/The Daily Camera)

An Israeli woman scrambles through the mud and under barbed wire at the competition of the Legion Run in the Menara Cliffs area of Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, near the Lebanon border 14 October 2016. Hundreds of participants ran five kilometers cross country in steep terrain and then navigated various obstacle courses including steep inclines and mud holes. It is the first time this non-competitive but supportive sporting event is held in Israel. (Photo by Jim Hollander/EPA)