A volcanic eruption at Mount Etna’s Vorgaine crater in Sicily, Italy on December 3, 2015. (Photo by Marco Restivo/Barcroft Media)

Women blow coloured power during Holi celebrations in Chennai, India, March 10, 2020. Holi is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. (Photo by P. Ravikumar/Reuters)

The photo taken on September 17, 2024 shows a villager walking over burning charcoal to perform a traditional fire-walking ritual called “Lianhuo” at Shuangfeng village in Jinhua, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)

Chihuahua Cooper Babb is dressed in a costume at the 7th annual Running of the Chihuahuas event on May 3, 2014, at the First Tennessee Pavilion in Chattanooga, Tenn. (Photo by Doug Strickland/AP Photo/Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Indian women beat men with stick (Lathi) during celebration of Lathmar Holi in Nandgaon village of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, India on February 25, 2018. Holi is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. (Photo by Javed Sultan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A man covered with mineral-rich mud smiles on a bank of lake Tus in Khakassia region, southwest of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, July 16, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

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.

Miniature spring-wound 35-mm film camera in a modified cigarette pack. The Tessina’s small size and quiet operation provided more options for concealment than most commercially available models. (Photo by Central Intelligence Agency)