They Lied to You… This African Kingdom Had Electricity 1,000 Years Ago - New LEGO Video

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:02]Before Europe had a single university standing, Africa had cities powered by knowledge.

[00:00:09]>> Fire and current.

[00:00:13]>> They called us primitive.

[00:00:17]The record says otherwise.

[00:00:22]>> They wrote you out of the story.

[00:00:27]They burned the evidence down.

[00:00:30]But the furnaces are still in the ground.

[00:00:33]And the truth [music] is coming round.

[00:00:36][singing] >> They lied to you.

[00:00:38]>> [music] >> They lied to you.

[00:00:42]This kingdom had the power before they said it was new.

[00:00:48]They lied [music] to you.

[00:00:50]>> They lied TO YOU.

[00:00:51]>> THEY LIED to you.

[00:00:53]>> [singing] >> The current >> was running a thousand years before they knew.

[00:00:59]>> Yeah.

[00:01:00]>> Ooh, [singing] they lied.

[00:01:00]>> Let me take you to the shores [music] of Lake Victoria, Tanzania. The Haya people built furnaces that burned [singing] at 1,800° C.

[00:01:10]>> [music] >> That is not primitive. That is pre-industrial carbon steel, 2,000 years before Europe touched the same deal.

[00:01:17]Archaeologists [music] dug up the village of Buhaya in the 1970s.

[00:01:22]They found ancient [music] iron smelting infrastructure buried beneath the centuries.

[00:01:27]The bellows pumped oxygen in a controlled and continuous stream.

[00:01:32]That is thermodynamics. [music] That is material science.

[00:01:36]That is not a dream. The steel they produced was equal [music] in grade to the European Industrial Revolution.

[00:01:44]But Europe came [music] 1,800 years later, and they called it their solution. [music] The Haya made tools, weapons, and agricultural equipment from that steel.

[00:01:56]>> [music] >> While Europe was in feudal darkness trying to negotiate a deal.

[00:02:03]>> Ancient [music] Meroe in Sudan was smelting iron between 800 and 600 BC.

[00:02:09]>> [music] >> Coal furnaces burning past 700° C. That [music] was their technology.

[00:02:15]>> Meroe was Africa's first industrial city. [music] The record is clear. Iron ore, coal, specialized craftsmen, [singing] and a system built on skill, not fear.

[00:02:28]>> The Bantu speaking [music] groups carried THAT KNOWLEDGE ACROSS CENTRAL and east Africa.

[00:02:34]From Rwanda to Uganda [music] to Tanzania, the fire spread across the corridor.

[00:02:40]Furnaces [music] found at Malwa Rubona in Rwanda, at Munsa in western [music] Uganda, at KM2 and KM3 in northwest Tanzania. The evidence is [music] on the radar.

[00:02:52]>> They wrote you out of the story.

[00:02:56]They burned the evidence down.

[00:03:00]But the furnaces are still in the ground.

[00:03:03]And the truth [music and singing] is coming around.

[00:03:05]>> They lied to you. They lied to you. They lied to you.

[00:03:10]>> [music] >> This kingdom had the power before they said it was new.

[00:03:19]>> [music] >> They lied to you.

[00:03:24]>> The current was running a thousand [music] years before they [singing] knew.

[00:03:30]>> Now go north [screaming] to ancient Egypt and the question of electrical current scholars confirmed in the 1930s [music] that chemical batteries were used for gold electroplating. Copper rods [music] and chemical solutions producing direct current, not debating. The Baghdad battery [music] discovered in Iraq showed the same principle at 250 BC. But Egypt had a city in solar cells and copper wire [music] centuries before that country. Pieces of Est of city and were found near the Great Pyramids dated to the Old Kingdom.

[00:04:03]Silicon [music] base volcanic glass with copper wire primitive solar generation, that is the bottom line [music] and the top. The Pyramids of Giza were not lit by torches, there is no soot on those interior walls.

[00:04:16]>> [music] >> The ventilation shafts and the copper conductors were part of the electrical hall.

[00:04:22]>> [music] >> Meanwhile, in the 13th century, THE MALI EMPIRE BUILT TIMBUKTU INTO [music] a global capital. Universities, mosques, manuscripts on mathematics [music] and astronomy, that is factual.

[00:04:34]The Sankore Madrasah was functioning [music] before Oxford had its charter signed in ink.

[00:04:40]Scholars [music] traveled from North Africa and the Middle East to come and think. [music] Mansa Musa controlled 129 million square kilometers of West African [music] land.

[00:04:53]He carried so much gold to Egypt in 1324 that he crashed the Egyptian [music] economy with his hand. The Songhai Empire that followed had the only naval fleet in all of West Africa. Sunni Ali [music] ruled from 1464 to 1492.

[00:05:10]That empire stretched farther [music] and farther. Books in Timbuktu sold for more than any other commodity [music] except salt. That is a literate civilization. Not a dark continent. And that was not their fault. The furnaces are >> [music] >> in the ground. The manuscripts are still around.

[00:05:31]The copper wire HAS BEEN FOUND.

[00:05:34]THEY LIED, but the truth came down.

[00:05:37]Colonial education removed [music] these facts from the curriculum on purpose.

[00:05:44]They called Africa at to justify slavery and land theft [music] on the surface. If you knew this kingdom had electricity and [music] carbon steel and universities before Rome fell, you would never accept a story [music] that Africans needed Europeans to excel.

[00:06:03]The suppression of African [music] technological history is not an accident and error.

[00:06:09]>> [music] >> It is a systematic policy designed to manufacture >> [music] >> permanent hell.

[00:06:15]>> I've been there and my documented it.

[00:06:18]Shake until I confirm [music] the record.

[00:06:22]The evidence is in the ground, in the music, in the manuscripts. [music] It can never be severed.

[00:06:28]>> From the higher furnaces of Tanzania >> [music] >> to the copper wires of Egypt to the manuscripts of Timbuktu to the iron cities of Nero. They lied.

[00:06:42]>> Their African kingdom had electricity, had steel, had knowledge, had structure 1,000 years before they taught you Africa was [music and singing] nothing but hunger.

[00:06:57]>> [music] >> History is often written by those who held power.

[00:07:01]Many African achievements were ignored, minimized, or forgotten. [music] Tonight we examine evidence, discoveries, and traditions that challenge [music] what many people were taught.

[00:07:21]They said innovation >> [music] >> belonged to only a few places.

[00:07:27]They said Africa waited for knowledge from elsewhere.

[00:07:31]>> [music] >> But archaeological discoveries continue to reveal complex societies, advanced engineering, and scientific understanding across the continent.

[00:07:40]>> They lied to you. They hid the story.

[00:07:43][music] >> Ancient kingdoms built systems that still raise questions today.

[00:07:49]>> From metal working to urban planning and long-distance [singing] trade. [music] >> Africa's past was far more advanced than many textbooks claim. Huh? The kingdom [music] of Kush flourished along the Nile and became one of the most powerful states in northeastern Africa. [music] Kushite engineers mastered iron production on a large scale. [singing] Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of extensive furnaces and industry activity near Meroe [music] thousands of years ago. Skilled craftsmen transformed raw materials into tools, weapons, and trade goods. Across the continent, communities [music] developed knowledge systems adapted to their environments.

[00:08:21]Ancient cities emerged with organized streets, defensive walls, [music] and commercial centers. Trade networks connected regions over vast distances.

[00:08:28]Gold, [music] ivory, salt, copper, and textiles moved between kingdoms and foreign markets. Huh? The title [music] speaks about electricity, a claim often connected to interpretations of ancient technology. Some of these searches and independent historians [music] point to artifacts, metallurgical knowledge, and unusual archaeological discoveries as [music] evidence that ancient civilizations may have understood natural electrical phenomena. Mainstream historians generally do not [music] accept that any African kingdom operated electrical grid a thousand years [singing] ago. However, they do recognize that many African societies [music] possessed sophisticated scientific and engineering skills that exceeded older historical assumptions. At places such as Great Zimbabwe, [music] builders constructed massive stone structures without mortar.

[00:09:12]The precision and [music] scale of the architecture continue to impress researchers. In West Africa, powerful [music] states accumulated wealth through trade and governance.

[00:09:19]Universities and learning centers attracted scholars from multiple regions.

[00:09:24]>> Every generation discovers new [music] evidence. Every excavation uncovers forgotten achievements.

[00:09:30]The deeper [music] historians investigate, the more complex the story becomes.

[00:09:40]They lie to you. They hid the story.

[00:09:44]>> [music] >> Ancient kingdoms built systems that still raise questions today.

[00:09:49]>> From metal working to urban planning and long-distance trade. [music] >> Africa's past was far more advanced than many textbooks claim.

[00:09:58]The kingdom of Benin [music] became famous for artistic mastery and organized administration. Its road systems and urban planning impressed visitors who documented what they witnessed. [music] The walls surrounding Benin represented one of the largest earthwork projects ever created in East Africa. Coastal city-states participated in international commerce linking Africa, Arabia, [music] Persia, India, and beyond. Merchants exchanged ideas, technologies, >> [music] >> and cultural practices. African navigators and traders played active roles in these networks. Meanwhile, centers of learning, [music] such as Timbuktu, preserved manuscripts covering mathematics, astronomy, law, medicine, theology. Thousands of documents survived centuries [music] of political change and environmental challenges.

[00:10:42]These records demonstrate [music] that intellectual traditions flourished throughout the region.

[00:10:48]>> [music] >> The real lesson is not whether one specific kingdom possessed modern electricity.

[00:10:55]>> [music] >> The lesson is that African civilizations repeatedly demonstrated [music] innovation, adaptation, and technical expertise.

[00:11:04]Historical narratives often overlook these accomplishments.

[00:11:08][music] >> Modern research continues correcting that record.

[00:11:13]>> Read the evidence. Study the discoveries. [music] Question the old narratives.

[00:11:18]See the archaeology. Follow the [music] records. Follow the history.

[00:11:23]>> Civilizations rise through knowledge.

[00:11:26]>> Knowledge survives >> through preservation. [music] >> [singing] >> When records disappear, myths [music] replace facts.

[00:11:38]History changes.

[00:11:39]>> [music] >> Ancient Africa was not isolated from progress.

[00:11:46]It contributed to human development in countless ways.

[00:11:50]>> [music] >> The story is still being uncovered.

[00:11:55]The research continues. [music] And the truth is often more impressive than the myths. [music] Look beyond the assumption.

[00:12:09]>> [music] >> History remains a journey [music] of discovery.

[00:12:21]>> [music]