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I have an inkling that the two Arkansas are pronounced differently. "Are-Kansas" and "Are-Can-Saw".
One is Akansas
I see that now. I did not see it then.
Are-ken-saw, A-kan-saw and a Kan-sahs
One has no R
I see that now. I did not see it then.
But where is Are-Cannot-Saw?
Next to Coloradon't
That's because Arkansas (ARE-can-saw) retained the native language pronounciation, while Kansas (CAN-zuhs) was Anglicanized.
Today I learned the native language was French!
The word “Arkansas” came from the Quapaw Indians, by way of early French explorers. ... The state’s name has been spelled several ways throughout history. In Marquette and Joliet’s Journal of 1673, the Indian name is spelled AKANSEA. In LaSalle’s map a few years later, it’s spelled ACANSA. A map based on the journey of La Harpe in 1718-1722 refers to the river as the ARKANSAS and to the Indians as LES AKANSAS. In about 1811, Captain Zebulon Pike, a noted explorer, spelled it ARKANSAW.