A young fan plays a virtual reality game during the first round of the US Open tennis championships, Monday, August 29, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)

This photograph taken on February 18,2023 shows Asriyanti Iskandar, a member of the Kuala Lumpur Freefly group kissing her Sun Conure parrot during a free-flight session in Bangi, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The group organises events on public holidays and weekends to share knowledge of their experiences of free-flight training with fellow bird enthusiasts. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

“Misty Morning”. Every morning, people expect sunny weather. Photo location: Bali, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Henry Adam/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Robert The Bruce's army from The Clanranald Trust during a rehearsal for the Battle of Bannockburn re-enactment performance which will be staged at the Bannockburn Live Event in Bannockburn, the 700th anniversary of the battle, on June 27, 2014. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

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 young girl plays on the glass bottom platform of the Oriental Pear TV Tower as she travels with her family on the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, also known as Spring Festival, in Shanghai, China on February 18, 2018. Some 287 million tourists travelled in China during the first four days of the week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, up 11.1 percent from the same period last year, new data showed Sunday. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Syrian refugee and Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini is pictured during a training session in a pool at the Olympic park in Berlin, Germany on April 26, 2018. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Immigrants from the West Indies at Victoria Station in London, 1956. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)