In the process, the world's human inhabitants became more genetically and ethnically interconnected, but it also led to the horrors of Atlantic slavery, which we'll be discussing next week. What are we to make of the Columbian Exchange? It devastated the population of the Americas, it led to the widespread slavery of Africans, but it also allowed for a worldwide population increase, and the lives of some natives, including Plains tribes like the Lakota, became better and more secure, at least for a while. Fewer people have starved since the Columbian Exchange began, but the diversity of life on Earth has diminished dramatically, and planting crops where they don't belong has hurt the environment. So on the whole, should we be grateful for the Columbian Exchange? And should we work to continue and deepen its legacy of globalism and monoculture? Crosby didn't think we were better off.