The Spanish actually explored that territory in the late 16th century...in fact, they sailed up the Hudson. But they felt it was too cold and hostile, since they weren’t used to that climate at home, and furthermore, it was the “little ice age” and temperatures were a lot lower than they are now. It warmed up and then there was another severe cold spell in the late 19th-early 20th centuries.
But the Spanish withdrew to areas that were more like home and didn’t bother to drive out the British when they landed in the area around Virginia, even though it had been claimed by Spain. The Spanish then went on to convert thousands of Indians and establish a huge mission chain based in St Augustine, Florida.
The missions were destroyed by the raids of British colonists from South Carolina and Georgia in 1702-1705. Many Indians (not to mention Spanish friars and settlers) were killed and some 11,000 Indians were taken captive and sold as slaves to the sugar plantations in the English Caribbean.
Cold weather might have been one of the reasons they had for hiring Swedes and Bretons.
Virginia was not given to the English ~ but they weren't prohibited. When you read through the codicils laying out standards of conduct when it came to Protestants and Catholics giving offense to the other it's pretty clear that the Eastern Seaboard from New York (Acadia) to Carolana (North Carolina) was to be a Protestant refuge in a Catholic sea.
I believe the Spanish thought they'd be rid of the Protestant problem for centuries!,
History turned out far different than they could have ever anticipated.
"sent to Carolina" usually meant being taken by prison barge to the Potomac River and then getting tossed naked into Smuggler's Creek. Tens of thousands of Scots were treated that way. By the time they reached Alexander county they had shoes, clothing and were manufacturing firearms.