An urban Opossum covered in light snow visits a suburban Chicago deck on December 10, 2025. (Photo by H Rick Bamman/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

South African model Candice Swanepoel walks the runway during Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at Duggal Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York on October 15, 2024. (Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP Photo)

Artists wearing traditional clown masks prepare to march during the annual Shinto festival called the Grand Festival at the Kotohiragu shrine in the Toranomon business district of Tokyo, Thursday, October 10, 2024. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)

Members of the public dressed in Santa Suits take part in a fun run in Princess Street gardens on December 08, 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The annual Santa Run in Edinburgh is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The charity event that sees participants dressed as Santa Claus dash through Edinburgh raises funds to grant wishes for children with life threatening illnesses. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

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 visitor takes in a view of the downtown district from Twin Peaks on Friday, January 9, 2015, in San Francisco. (Photo by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo)

A mahout rides an elephant at Tad Sae Waterfall outside Luang Prabang, Laos July 31, 2016. Protected by the United Nations cultural heritage agency UNESCO, Luang Prabang is one of the most alluring places in the region – a city that evokes old-world romance that has gained a reputation as a travellers' Shangri La. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A Donald Trump impersonator with a bikini clad model stops at a hot dog vendor near Trump Tower on October 25, 2016 in New York, as part of a performance art piece by British artist Alison Jackson. The event is to promote Jackson's new show, “Private”, in New York, which features staged photographs portraying the private lives of public individuals. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)