Ocean Rebellion demonstrators perform on the Albert Embankment, on the final day of the MEPC 82 meetings in London, UK on October 2, 2024. (Photo by Victoria Jones/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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)

A man braces his umbrella while walking through the snow on February 13, 2014 in New York City. Heavy snow and high winds made for a hard morning commute in the city. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Swedish brown bears “Fred” and “Frode” play in the snow on January 30, 2014 at the Natur- und Umweltpark (NUP) animal park in Guestrow, northeastern Germany. Despite of icy temperatures, the bear brothers took a break from their winter rest. (Photo by Bernd Wuestneck/AFP Photo/DPA)

Children react as a carnivorous theropod known as the Australovenator dinosaur walks through crowds along the Southbank, in London, Monday, February 18, 2013. The dinosaur is one of many that can be visited at the Erth's Dinosaur Petting Zoo, visiting from Australia, the creatures can be touched and fed at the Southbank Centre. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Photo)

Shoppers walk down stairs featuring a five-metre-high reproduction of Vincent van Gogh's signature painting “Sunflowers”, at the entrance to Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong July 15, 2013. A premium three-dimensional reproduction of works of Van Gogh, the RELIEVO collection, approved by the curators of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, is on display at a gallery inside Harbour City shopping mall attached to the terminal. (Photo by Bobby Yip/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.

A meteorite burns up in the atmosphere as seen in this photo taken near of Salgotarjan, 109 kms northeast of Budapest, Hungary, late 21 April 2015. The Moon and Venus can be seen on the left. (Photo by Peter Komka/EPA)