FAITH AND EMPIRE: THE INQUISITION IN THE SIXTEENTH-CENTURY PORTUGUESE WORLD

This article attempts to reconstruct for the first time the strategies of propagation of the Inquisition in the different regions of the sixteenth-century Portuguese empire. In particular, it will be analysed the shaping of a global view of the empire by the central authorities of the Holy Office, the connections between Inquisition and colonial expansion, the patterns of activity of the inquisitors, as well as their relationship with other ecclesiastic agents, starting from bishops and missionaries.