A Cucumber and a Chuta Cholero hug during the traditional festival “Desentierro del Pepino” (unearthing the Cucumber) to mark the beginning of carnival on January 21, 2024 in La Paz, Bolivia. People dug up the cucumber from the cemetery and walk through the streets with two characters, the Ch'uta and the Chola. (Photo by Gaston Brito/Getty Images)

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey attend the “Jurassic World Rebirth” New York Premiere at Lincoln Center on June 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)

A hot air ball balloon floats past while people stand in line to climb the Pyramid of the Sun and welcome the spring equinox in the pre-hispanic city of Teotihuacan, on the outskirts of Mexico City, Mexico, March 20, 2016. Spring equinox in Teotihuacán is an annual event which takes place around the 20th and 21st of March at the pre-Hispanic site of Teotihuacán, Mexico. This event is mirrored by other similar events in other pre-Hispanic sites such as Chichén Itzá and Malinalco, Mexico State. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Festival goer practice yoga during the O.Z.O.R.A. festival on August 4, 2016 in Tolna, Hungary. Ozora is a village in Tolna County. In recent times it has become famous for the O.Z.O.R.A. psychedelic trance festival which has been held on an estate in Ozora near small village Dadpuszta every year since 2004. The first party was called Solipse and took place during the Solar eclipse of August 11, 1999. (Photo by Mohai Balázs/MTI/MTVA)

“Miniatur Wunderland is a model railway attraction in Hamburg, Germany and the largest of its kind in the world. As of January 2011, the railway consists of 12,000 metres (39,370 ft) of track in HO scale, divided into seven sections: Harz, the fictitious city of Knuffingen, the Alps and Austria, Hamburg, America, Scandinavia, and Switzerland. Of the 6,400 square metres (68,889 sq ft) of floorspace, the model takes 1,150 m2 (12,378 sq ft)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Details of the “Miniatur Wunderland” are pictured on April 2, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany. The world's largest model railway and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Germany is located next to the Elbe in Hamburg's Speicherstadt. (Photo by Joern Pollex/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.

Two carnival revellers masquerade as Leonardo da Vinci's painting “Mona Lisa” pose in St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy, Sunday, January 31, 2016. Carnival-goers in Venice are being asked by police to momentarily lift their masks as part of new anti-terrorism measures for the annual festivities. (Photo by Domenico Stinellis/AP Photo)

People jump over a campfire during a celebration on the traditional Ivana Kupala (Ivan the Bather) holiday, the ancient tradition, originating from pagan times, is usually marked with grand overnight festivities during which people sing and dance around campfires, believing it will purge them of their sins and make them healthier, in Kiev, Ukraine, July 6, 2016. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)