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.

An adult helps a young girl light a cigarette as a band plays in the background in the village of Vale de Salgueiro, northern Portugal, during the local Kings' Feast Friday, January 5, 2018. The village's Epiphany celebrations, called Kings' Feast, feature a tradition that each year causes an outcry among outsiders: parents encourage their children, some as young as 5, to smoke cigarettes. (Photo by Armando Franca/AP Photo)

Bride Fan Huixiang (front R), a 25-year-old cancer patient, receives flowers from nurses on her bed before her wedding ceremony at a hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan province November 17, 2014. Fan was diagnosed with late stage adenocarcinoma, a type of cancerous tumor, at her thoracic vertebra this June. She and her 24-year-old husband Yu Haining held their wedding ceremony at the hospital on Monday after five years of relationship, local media reported. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A dog sits in the shade of a mangrove tree as a woman uses a fork to dig for shellfish on the reef-mud flats of a lagoon located at South Tarawa in the central Pacific island nation of Kiribati May 23, 2013. Kiribati consists of a chain of 33 atolls and islands that stand just metres above sea level, spread over a huge expanse of otherwise empty ocean. With surrounding sea levels rising, Kiribati President Anote Tong has predicted his country will likely become uninhabitable in 30-60 years because of inundation and contamination of its freshwater supplies. (Photo by David Gray/Reuters)

The hard-worked hands of Jacaba Coaquira, 80, holding the green beans she grew on her land. This year the production of her land was affected by lack of rain and early cold weather that froze the crops before they finished growing. Santiago de Okola, Bolivia. (Photo by Renée C. Byer/Living on a Dollar a Day)

A Balinese Hindu blows fire, during a parade carrying Ogoh-ogoh effigies symbolising evil spirits, during a ritual before Nyepi, the day of silence, in Palembang, South Sumatra province, Indonesia March 8, 2016. Nyepi is a day of silence for self-reflection celebrating the Balinese Hindu new year, where people may not use lights, light fires, work, travel nor enjoy entertainment. (Photo by Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

Disguised revellers parade on the occasion of the Cortege during the Carnival in Basel, Switzerland, February 17, 2016. (Photo by Georgios Kefalas/EPA)