My NC Hometown Was Part Of The Spanish Empire Until Several Years After Its Founding

Lucas Vázquez De Ayllón, Foundation Of The First Spanish Settlement In North America
(The article above is not well-written but fills a gap in the limited literature available online.)

https://www.historiadelnuevomundo.com/index.php/en/2017/09/lucas-vazquez-de-ayllon-foundation-of-the-first-spanish-settlement-in-north-america/

Alan: In the 1500s, what is now North Carolina became a Spanish territory called La Tierra De Ayllón. 

Due to the slow-changing European "treaty system," Hillsborough remained  (technically) part of the Spanish empire until several years after Hillsborough was founded.

Technically every founder of Hillsborough (my home town) was an illegal immigrant or the descendant of an illegal immigrant. 

I learned this at a conference presentation in Atlanta decades ago. 

Although the following web link introduces you to La Tierra De Ayllón, it makes no reference to the history of Hillsborough outlined above. https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/lucas-vasques-de-ayllon-1475-1526/