Before becoming the great empires of Mali and Songhai, which empire dominated this land?

The Ghana empire ruled before great empires of Mali and Songhai,

Explanation:

The two empires of the region, along with Ghana were the last great owners of the Saharan Africa before colonialism and had been there for a long time thus.

They were profiting from the trade routes set up in the time of the rule of Mansa Musa

This is the time of the precedence of the Ghana empire in the whole region which then broke up into small pieces and then the great empires of Mali and Songhai sprung up after it.