Raining on their New Year's Eve parade. Revellers in Leeds, United Kingdom get ready ready for the new year on December 31, 2022. (Photo by Nb press ltd)

A reveller dressed as “La Llorona” participates in a parade known as “La Calabiuza” on the eve of the Day of the Dead in Tonacatepeque, El Salvador on November 1, 2022. (Photo by Jose Cabezas/Reuters)

A woman takes part in a carnival parade as part of New Year's Eve festivities in San Jose, Costa Rica, 27 December 2023. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

Women wearing 2025 headbands attend New Year's Eve celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, on December 31, 2024. (Photo by Willy Kurniawan/Reuters)

A surfer dressed as Santa Claus participates in the 16th annual “Surfing Santas” event on Christmas Eve in Cocoa Beach, Florida, December 24, 2024. (Photo by Giorgio Viera/AFP 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.

A crane loads logs at the Novoyeniseisk wood processing plant, with the air temperature at about minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit), in the town of Lesosibirsk in Krasnoyarsk Region, Siberia, Russia, February 16, 2016. The plant exports timber to Europe, Northern Africa and Asia. The Taiga, also known as the boreal forest, on the coast of the Angara River and Yenisei River is one of the main areas for the industrial cutting of wood thanks to the high quality of the Angara pine. Open air work continues all year around regardless to temperatures which can drop to minus 52 degrees Celsius (minus 61.6 degrees Fahrenheit), according to employees. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A member of security personnel stands on duty on an empty train platform inside a station on the Subway Line Number 1 on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, China, February 7, 2016. According to local media, traffic in Beijing has seen a rare relief from its usual heavy pressure after 15 million people have left the city, heading for family reunions in their hometowns on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year of Monkey. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)