A motorcycle-taxi driver takes a nap while leaning on his bike along a street in Bangkok, Thailand on February 17, 2019. (Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP Photo)

An aerial view taken on September 11, 2020 shows the Buddhist temple Wat Samphran (Dragon Temple) in Nakhon Pathom, some 40km west of Bangkok. Wat Samphran is a popular tourist destination with visitors coming to see the huge dragon figure curling around a pink cylindrical building next to the Buddha statues and places of worship of the traditional Buddhist temple complex. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Young women pose for photos in a Christmas-themed tunnel lit-up with decorations outside a shopping mall in Bangkok on December 4, 2020. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Students feed fruit to an elephant during Thailand's National Elephant Day in the ancient Thai capital Ayutthaya March 13, 2015. Thais honoured the elephant on Friday with special fruits and Buddhist ceremonies across the country to pay homage to their national animal. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Monkeys climb onto tourists during the annual Monkey Festival in Lopburi province, Thailand on November 26, 2023. (Photo by Chalinee Thirasupa/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.

Pigeons fly out from the mouth of a giant Buddha statue at Wat Nam Daeng Buddhist temple in Chachoengsao province, east of the Thai capital Bangkok, on October 11, 2020. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

A woman poses for a photo on a street decorated for the fore coming Lunar New Year in Bangkok's Chinatown on February 9, 2021. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)