“Misty Morning”. Every morning, people expect sunny weather. Photo location: Bali, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Henry Adam/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Don't Leave Any Food On Your Plate”. The giraffes at Nairobi's Giraffe Manor are totally at home with humans. They will eat out of your hand, or even off your plate. Photo location: Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Gavin Werbeloff/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A festival goer uses a hula hoop, as revelers gather ahead of this weekends Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm in Somerset, southwest England, on June 25, 2014. US metal giants Metallica will play this year's coveted Saturday night headline spot at Britain's Glastonbury festival, organisers announced Thursday. It will be the “Master of Puppets” four-piece's first appearance at the legendary festival, held in south west England, following on from The Rolling Stones' Worthy Farm debut last year. (Photo by Leon Neal/AFP Photo)

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.

People gather outside Red Square and the Kremlin for the New Year celebrations in downtown Moscow late on December 31, 2023. (Photo by Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP Photo)

Tourists take photographs with a statue of Shakira at the Malecon in Barranquilla, Colombia, on December 26, 2023. Arms interlocked high, belly exposed, and torso folded to one side anticipate Shakira's iconic hip movement, immortalized on Tuesday in a 6.5-meter-high statue in the Colombian port city of Barranquilla, where she grew up. (Photo by Carlos Parra Rios/Reuters)

Twin brothers Keith (L) and Deano Stapleton (R) interact with one another as people gather to witness the winter solstice on December 21, 2022 in Newgrange, Ireland. Crowds are gathering at Newgrange in Co Meath, this morning for the winter solstice – the astronomical phenomenon that marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Newgrange is a Stone Age (Neolithic) monument in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, it is the jewel in the crown of Ireland's Ancient East and was constructed approximately 5,200 years ago (3,200 B.C.) which makes it older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Giza. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

A child coated in silver body paint, smiles during the “Loucura Suburbana”, or Suburban Madness pre-Carnival parade, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, February 8, 2024. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)