There was a big difference in the political structure of the Mongols vs the Ottoman. The Ottomans settled in the land they conquered, and governed it, unlike the Mongols state structure which just oversaw the local government. This is seen in how the Mongol empire was much larger and lasted for a much shorter time than the Ottoman empire. The reason for this is because you can't settle in a large amount of land and govern it easily, and change cultures, but when you do, in the Ottomans instance, the land stays in your possession for much longer. In comparison to the Ottomans, the Mongol empire which fell quickly after Chinggis Khan's death, wasn't well structured and didn't have Mongols settle in places they conquered, but had them oversee local governments. This is seen in current times in how most states are settled and have strong cultural roots, which is a way which allows them to not be conquered.
Great Zimbabwe was the center of trade for the Indian Ocean trade, because gold and other types of trade had to pass through it, as well as being an agricultural powerhouse. This led to a large spike in industry trade, and money, because this allowed them to tax travelers, and trade crops, which lead to their immense wealth. A piece of evidence is that Great Zimbabwe was a city made out of stone. This shows that Great Zimbabwe was a great power in the trade network, because only the richest of cities could make stone monuments. The fact that the entire city was stone, was astounding., and an immense display of wealth.
One of the cultural effects of Trans Saharan trade, is that it brought in a lot of silk and other international goods. This can be seem from the accounts of Ibn Battuta, a Muslim judge passing thought Mali. His accounts detail rich silk adorning the palace, which usually comes from China, which is a long distance away. Another example of exported goods from his account is a velvety, made out of European fabrics that they received from trade. Another example of a cultural effect from trans-Saharan trade would be they integrated parts of Islam with their local religion to increase trade and relations with Muslims. An example of this is Mansa Musa's pilgrimage which was an Islam tradition, and was caused my sub-Saharan trade networks that introduced Muslims. This in turn affected the Mali empire because Mansa Musa constructed places of worship and education systems of Islam.
Didn' t get time to get the questions