This time exposure photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows a series of lightning strikes over Santa Barbara, Calif., seen from Stearns Wharf in the city's harbor, Tuesday evening, March 5, 2019. A storm soaking California on Wednesday could trigger mudslides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents are under evacuation orders, authorities warned. (Photo by Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP Photo)

A member of the Fientan group, a contemporary dance company of young deaf and mute people from Burkina Faso, performs during the Market for Performing Arts in Abidjan (MASA), at the Culture Palace in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Luc Gnago/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.

The Lumix GX1 single lens reflex (SLR) camera with 14-42 mm powerzoom lens is displayed at the Panasonic booth at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 10, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The new camera comes with an external viewfinder and flash and an ISO up to 12,800. The camera as shown sells for USD 949; the camera body alone is USD 799. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Young Chinese football players help an injured player off the field during training at the Evergrande International Football School on June 12, 2014 near Qingyuan in Guangdong Province, China. The sprawling 167-acre campus is the brainchild of property tycoon Xu Jiayin, whose ambition is to train a generation of young athletes to establish China as a football powerhouse. The school is considered the largest football academy in the world with 2400 students, more than 50 pitches and a squad of Spanish coaches through a partnership with Real Madrid. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Jan Kara (R) and Jan Holan pedal their boat, made with plastic bottles, on the Elbe river near Kostelec nad Labem July 15, 2014. Jan Kara, a 22-year-old student, and Jakub Bures, a 22-year-old car mechanic, built the 10-metre (32.8-feet) long boat from 5000 plastic bottles strapped to a wooden frame. (Photo by David W. Cerny/Reuters)

Egmont National Park in New Zealand with Mt. Taranaki at its center is seen in a Landsat 8 satellite image taken July 3, 2014 and released by NASA November 14, 2014. The image is from the book “Sanctuary: Exploring the World's Protected Areas from Space”, published by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies with support from NASA, which was released this week. (Photo by Reuters/NASA/USGS)

Los Angeles city firefighters battle a massive fire at a seven-story downtown apartment complex under construction in Los Angeles, California December 8, 2014. Over 250 firefighters battle the early morning blaze which shutdown two major freeways the Los Angeles Fire Department and California Highway Patrol said. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Reuters)