The Catholic court system that tried to find and punish heretics, particularly Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, and Africans who had been forced to convert to Catholicism but who might be practicing their old religions in secret.
There were outposts of the Inquisition not only in Spain and Portugal, but also in the Americas in the Spanish colonial cities of Mexico City, Lima (Peru), and Cartagena (Columbia). In addition, visiting members of the Inquisition would conduct trials in other Spanish and Portuguese colonies, such as Brazil.
The Inquisition wasn’t abolished in the Americas until 1820 and then only by royal decree.