The sun shines on trees that are displaying their autumn colours surrounding Palladian bridge and the lakeside Pantheon at the National Trust's Stourhead on November 3, 2010 near Warminster, England. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Chinese Kazakh eagle hunters sit on horseback as they travel to a local competition on January 29, 2015 in the mountains of Qinghe County, Xinjiang, northwestern China. The festival, organised by the local hunting community, is part of an effort to promote and grow traditional hunting practices for new generations in the mountainous region of western China that borders Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia. The training and handling of the large birds of prey follows a strict set of ancient rules that Kazakh eagle hunters are preserving for future generations. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

“Diver in Magic Kingdom”. Green Lake (Grüner See) is located Tragöss Austria. In spring snowmelt raises the lake level about 10 meters. This phenomenon, which lasts only a few weeks covering the hiking trails, meadows, trees. The result is magical to watch diving landscapes. Photo location: Grüner See at Tragöss, Austria. (Photo and caption by Marc Henauer/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A girl with Russian national flags painted on her cheeks takes part in celebrations marking the first anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, in central Simferopol March 16, 2015. Russia marks one year anniversary of annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula this week. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

“Stacked Supercell with Lightning”. This huge mesocyclone supercell was near the Nebraska / Kansas border on the night of June 22nd, 2012. What a stunning structure! (Photo and caption by Jennifer Brindley/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

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.

An AH-64D Apache attack helicopter flies in front of a wall of fire during the South Carolina National Guard Air and Ground Expo at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, South Carolina, U.S. on May 6, 2017. (Photo by Jorge Intriago/Reuters/Courtesy Air National Guard)

An Afghan woman fills containers with water near her temporary shelter at an internally displaced person's (IDP) camp on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan, January 21, 2015. Dozens of families are living in temporary shelters even in harsh winters and most depend on aid distributions by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (Photo by Jalil Rezayee/EPA)