Yeah, I strongly believe that this cannot be a coincidence
.
Actually, Oddworld games have many, many other references to historical facts, social behavior, and environment. All the Oddworld creatures, for instance, although look unique, still are strongly inspired by actual creatures we know. There are the obvious ones, like the similarities between the Oddworld's
scrab and the "Our world"
crab, but there are also the more subtle connections, that we don't see at the first sight...