8. Islam in Spain after the Reconquista: By Devin Stewart, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Emory University Ferdinand and Isabela's rule is famous not only for recapturing the Iberian Peninsula, but for supporting Christopher Columbus' voyage of "discovery" to the New World. It also marked the beginning of the Inquisition. The Inquisition was a network of tribunals organized by the Catholic Church in the Iberian Peninsula intended to search out, identify, prosecute, punish, and correct heretics. The Inquisition tended to focus its efforts on recent converts to Christianity from Judaism and Islam. These "new Christians" were under constant scrutiny and suspicion of maintaining the practices and beliefs of their former religions while outwardly adhering to Christianity. Click here for full text Get Adobe Acrobat Reader here