The Cage of Death at Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin City, Australia. The Cage of Death starts out above the water where the two tourists in it can see the huge crocodile below before the cage is lowered into the pen. The tourists are then inches from the 16-foot-long Saltwater crocodile as it greedily snaps its jaws over meaty treats that are being dangled right in front of the cage. (Photo by Crocosaurus Cove/Media Drum World/Profimedia)

US President Joe Biden departs the White House for California, where he will review damage from recent flooding, in Washington, DC, USA, 19 January 2023. (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/EFE)

A grizzly bear waves its paw at a vehicle on the road to Nemrut Crater Lake in Tatvan district of Bitlis, Turkiye on August 24, 2023. (Photo by Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

While many of us would pay good money for a spa mud bath, these fortunate hippos in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, have nature to thank as they take a plunge in a lagoon in the second decade of February 2024. (Photo by Dimitar Nedelchev/Solent News)

A young chimpanzee reacts on a pirogue with Rohmay Ndoulek, from the Papaye International association, during an outing in the Douala-Edea Natural Park in Marienberg on December 15, 2024. In the heart of Douala-Edea Natural Park, dedicated Cameroonian caretakers tend to and rehabilitate chimpanzees, victims of poaching and deforestation, at Papaye International, a sanctuary dubbed a “monkey paradise”. Founded in 2001, the association funded by 30 million friends and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation regularly receives eco-volunteers from all over the world. (Photo by Daniel Beloumou Olomo/AFP Photo)

Fans of US singer Taylor Swift, also known as a Swifties, queue to enter at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the first of Swift's three shows in Melbourne on February 16, 2024. Swift is playing to 260,000 fans over three concerts in Melbourne starting February 16 as part of her Eras World Tour. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A man rows a boat on the Dal Lake as a woman holds an umbrella during snowfall in Srinagar February 19, 2015. (Photo by Danish Ismail/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.