Aerial photo shows a colorful metasequoia forest at Hongze Lake wetland scenic spot in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu province, November 3, 2024. (Photo by CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

A man walks through floodwater as rain pours in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 24, 2025. (Photo by Hasnoor Hussain/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.

Capybaras bathe in the hot spring water at the Saitama Children's zoo in Higashi Matsuyama city, Saitama prefecture on December 25, 2013. 13 capybaras in the zoo, originally from South America, enjoyed the hot spring water. (Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP Photo)

A member of an Egungun masquerade group, his identity obscured under his ornate costume in Ouidah, Benin on March 13, 2019. The exclusively male practitioners, found across Yoruba culture, use dance and spinning in the belief that they will summon the spirits of ancestors. (Photo by Massimo Rumi/Barcroft Images)

Black-headed gulls sit on pickets at a riverside in Tokyo, Japan, December 27, 2015. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen walks the ramp to showcase the creation of designer Sunita Shanker during Lakme fashion week winter 2018 in Mumbai, India, Thursday, August 23, 2018. (Photo by Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo)

A demonstrator uses a slingshot during a protest against Chile's government in Santiago, Chile, November 14, 2019. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)