Encomienda is a Spanish word meaning "commission." It was a theory or you can say a system that was used by Spanish people. We are talking about the time when the new world which is United States of America today was once a group of colonies made by England and European countries. In Spain it was a very famous custom that whoever will conquer the land acquired by Spain in the new world will be awarded with a colony there. Most of the Spaniards went there and made their colonies and this entire thing proved disastrous to the native population. They miss-treated the native population and brought along them different European diseases which had no immunity at that time and because of which most of the native people died. Thus, we can say that one of the very major effect of this system in Latin America was that it exploited the indigenous people in Latin America.
The Encomienda system left a lasting impact on the newly independent Latin American nations. Much of the local belief system and structure was destroyed and replaced with Catholicism. Many of the natives had been treated so poorly, abused, and taken advantage of that repairing the broken relationships was near impossible. The natives were extremely fearful of the Spanish and those that replaced them in power. They had been seen as less than human and simply a work force to use until they died, much as some slaves were seen in America decades later. Natives would face severe discrimination for years after.
