Cristiano Ronaldo's fiancee Georgina Rodriguez in the second decade of August 2025 took social media by storm. (Photo by Instagram)

A police officer adjusts her helmet on the sidelines of an anti-government protest against food scarcity at soup kitchens and economic reforms proposed by President Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 7, 2024. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

A young man sits in The Colored Forrest, in the village of Poienari, southern Romania, a project by local artists, meant to raise awareness to the large scale deforestation due to excessive logging, Saturday, October 12, 2024. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

The sign above the door of restaurant and hotel “Am Paulusbogen” is partially submerged in the flooded centre of the Bavarian town of Passau, about 200 km (124 miles) north-east of Munich June 3, 2013. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

A Santa Claus puppet holding a Christmas tree is pictured against the sun in Berlin November 23, 2014. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

A riot policeman uses a baton to hit a rioting University of Nairobi student in Kenya's capital Nairobi, in this May 20, 2014 file photo. (Photo by Noor Khamis/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.

Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.