What did the kinkdoms of west africa have in common

Mali and Songhai  they seem share  similarities in that they were both in West Africa, they both had power over some of the same cities (ie. Gao and others).  

Ican’t unless you list the “following”

The native americans, spanish, french and americans all name places in our state. the word “arkansas” came from the quapaw indians, by way of early french explorers. at the time of the early french exploration, a tribe of indians, the quapaws, lived west of the mississippi and north of the arkansas river.