The South Central United States or South Central states is a region of the United States located in the south central part of the country. It evolved out of the archaic southwest, which originally was literally the western U.S. South. The states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas are always included in the region; sometimes Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and New Mexico are included. Alternately, portions, not the entire states, of: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, and Utah have been included with part or all of the states more commonly thought of the South Central United States. All of the region is in the Central United States, though all of the South Central states were considered part of the West, at different points in American history.