Why did Spain settle in Florida Texas Arizona New Mexico and California?

Answer 1

It was part of the race among European countries to grab as much territory as possible during the Age of Exploration (1453-1778). During this period of time, several naval powers explored the world for Natural Resources and alternate trade routes between Europe and Eastern Asia, finding instead the Americas.

After the Americas were found to be another continent and not part of "The Indies" as initially thought, most of these Empires -- Portugal, Spain, France initially; several decades later, England and the Netherlands also -- sent expeditions and began to settle the New World for its riches, to increase their respective coffers by the means of trade such as the Netherlands, or outright exploitation of natural resources, such as Spain.

Spain and Portugal did most of the exploration, eventually settling these lands. Spanish territories in the Americas included most of present-day South America, Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and today's US south and southwest, including California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and Texas, as well as parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas.