In this Thursday, March 28, 2019, photo, a “golden giant burger” is served at a restaurant of Hotel Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Tokyo. The $900 wagyu (Japanese-produced beef) burger was unveiled to commemorate the era change. What’s in a name? Quite a lot if you’re a Japanese citizen awaiting the official announcement Monday, April 1, 2019 of what the soon-to-be-installed new emperor’s next era will be called. It’s a proclamation that has happened only twice in nearly a century, and the new name will follow Emperor Naruhito, after his May 1 investiture, for the duration of his rule, attaching itself to much of what happens in Japan. (Photo by Kyodo News via AP Photo)

Rwandan refugees cross the Rusumo border to Tanzania from Rwanda carrying their belongings, goats, mattresses and cows, May 30, 1994. The bloodshed that claimed 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu lives began 25 years ago on April 7, 1994, when a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira and a French air crew was shot down. (Photo by Jeremiah Kamau/Reuters)

Miss Ireland's Top Model Orla Quinn, from Roscommon, on Ladies day during day four of the Galway Races Summer Festival 2022 at Galway Racecourse in County Galway, Ireland on Thursday, July 28, 2022. (Photo by Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images)

Members of the Times Square Alliance snow clearing team take a photo on a snowbank at Times Square in the Manhattan borough of New York January 23, 2016. A winter storm dumped nearly 2 feet (58 cm) of snow on the suburbs of Washington, D.C., on Saturday before moving on to Philadelphia and New York, paralyzing road, rail and airline travel along the U.S. East Coast. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

People wear face masks while participating in the annual Memorial Day Parade on May 25, 2020 in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Dozens of cars and nearly 100 members of the patriotic motorcycle group Rolling Thunder joined the event. This year’s parade was diminished in size and in person-to-person contact due to the coronavirus outbreak. Across the country, events honoring the nation’s veterans have been cancelled or scaled back as America continues to experience high numbers of deaths and new cases of COVID-19. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Indian commuters wade through floodwaters during the continuous rain shower in Calcutta, India, July 10, 2015. A monsoon shower hit the city and disrupted daily life. The Indian monsoon, takes place between May and September. (Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA)

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.

In this February 19, 2017 photo, a statue of the Death Saint stands inside Mercy Church as Juan Carlos Avila Mercado gives a service, on the edge of Mexico City's Tepito neighborhood. “She chooses them and has always been with us”, said Avila, who says he is a Catholic priest, but who is not listed among the archdiocese's priests. “We are born and we die with death”. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)