Why does git perform fast-forward merges by default?

Coming from mercurial, I use branches to organize features.
Naturally, I want to see this work-flow in my history as well.

I started my new project using git and finished my first feature. When merging the feature, I realized git uses fast-forward, i.e. it applies my changes directly to the master branch if possible and forgets about my branch.

So to think into the future: I’m the only one working on this project. If I use git’s default approach (fast-forward merging), my history would result in one giant master branch.
Nobody knows I used a separate branch for every feature, because in the end I’ll have only that giant master branch. Won’t that look unprofessional?

By this reasoning, I don’t want fast-forward merging and can’t see why it is the default. What’s so good about it?

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