despite their loss of independence, the fulani were now the preeminent ethnic group of northern cameroon. they spread islam throughout the region, establishing it as the dominant religion. education also flourished, as new converts learned arabic writing and studied the qur'an. trade flourished, and communications with it. the conquests were also important ecologically. lands that had once been used for cultivation now became part of fulani pastureland. herdsmen cut down trees to make way for cattle, and they burned grasses that their herds later trampled. centuries of such behaviour have replaced the region's forest with savanna.