The groundwork for interstate relations between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States was laid by the colonization of parts of the Americas by Spain. The first settlement in Florida was Spanish, followed by others in New Mexico, California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Louisiana. The earliest Spanish settlements north of Mexico (known then as New Spain) were the results of the same forces that later led the British to come to that area. The history of Spanish–American relations has been defined as one of "love and hate".