Italy's Federica Brignone's helmet is seen after their run at the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on January 25, 2025. (Photo by Gintare Karpaviciute/Reuters)

Performers in costume wait to take part in the carnival on the main Parade day of the Notting Hill Carnival in west London on August 29, 2022. London's Notting Hill carnival celebrates Caribbean culture, at a carnival considered the largest street demonstration in Europe. (Photo by Susannah Ireland/AFP Photo)

Riot police use a water cannon to disperse LGBT rights activist before a Gay Pride Parade in central Istanbul, Turkey, June 28, 2015. Turkish police fired water cannon and rubber pellets to disperse a crowd gathered in central Istanbul for the city's annual gay pride parade, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The police appeared intent on stopping the crowd gathering near Taksim Square, the cameraman said. Taksim is a traditional rallying ground for demonstrators and saw weeks of unrest in 2013. (Photo by Kemal Aslan/Reuters)

Santa Students practice dancing during the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School workshop on October 16, 2008 in Midland, Michigan. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Jean-François Leroy launched Visa Pour l’Image, the international photojournalism festival, in Perpignan in 1989. Before heading up the festival, Leroy was shooting reportage for the agency Sipa Press and also working for Photo-Reporter, Le Photographe, Photo-Revue and Photo Magazine. He is the chairman of the company Images Evidence. Photo: 2008 Visa d'or Feature: Brent Stirton. Conservation Rangers from an Anti-Poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorrillas killed in mysterious circumstances in the park, July 24, 2007, Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Exclusive by Getty Images)

“Shortly after he arrived, Van Agtmael witnessed the aftermath of this suicide bombing at a cafe that soldiers frequented in Mosul. Nine people died and 23 were wounded”. (Photo and caption by Van Agtmael/Harrison Jacobs/Magnum Photos)

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.

In this photograph taken on April 1, 2015, an Indonesian resident and child walk away from an abandoned school building as Mount Sinabung erupts in Karo district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. According to authorities about 3,500 people were displaced after the February 2014 eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano and many are still living in evacuation centers as the volcano remains active. (Photo by Sutanta Aditya/AFP Photo)