Leipzig's David Raum, left, and Juventus' Nicolo Savona go for the ball during the UEFA Champions League opening phase soccer match between Leipzig and Juventus in Leipzig, Germany, Wednesday, October 2, 2024. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

A model on the runway during the Georges Hobeika haute couture autumn/winter 23/24 show at Palais de Chaillot, as part of Paris fashion week in Paris, France on July 4, 2023. (Photo by Abd Rabbo Ammar/Abaca Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

(L-R) American singers Gwen Stefani of No Doubt and Olivia Rodrigo perform at the Coachella Stage during the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 13, 2024 in Indio, California. (Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for No Doubt)

Children walk past the partially collapsed boundary wall of a school and a Buddhist shrine that were damaged during the earthquake earlier this year at Khumjung, a typical Sherpa village in Solukhumbu district also known as the Everest region, in this picture taken November 30, 2015. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Residents ride on top of an overcrowded “Jeepney”, a locally manufactured public transport, along a highway in Mogpog town on Marinduque island in central Philippines April 8, 2015. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

For France, the trauma of the Algerian War (1954-1962) was not unlike the experience of the Vietnam War for the United States. But, unlike the conflict in Vietnam, few photographic documents exist from that period in Algeria: it is as if the French responded with collective amnesia. Marc Garanger’s Algerian Women is one of the few photographic essays dedicated to that painful period... Photo: A 1960 photograph of an Algerian woman in a French regroupment village. (Photo by Marc Garanger)

Miss California Crystal Lee performs during the Miss America 2014 pageant, Sunday, September 15, 2013, in Atlantic City, N.J. (Photo by Mel Evans/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.