The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present. See more

In 1636, Roger Williams settled on land granted to him by the Narragansett tribe at the tip of Narragansett Bay after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for … See more

In 1790, English immigrant Samuel Slater founded the first textile mill in the United States in Pawtucket, Rhode Island (Slater Mill) and became known as the father of the American … See more

The fifty or so years following the Civil War were a time of prosperity and affluence that author William G. McLoughlin called "Rhode Island's halcyon era". Rhode Island was a center of the Gilded Age and provided a home (or summer home) to many of the … See more

Native Americans occupied most of the area comprising Rhode Island, including the Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Niantic tribes. Many were … See more

Rhode Island was the first colony in America to declare independence on May 4, 1776, a full two months before the United States … See more

During the American Civil War, Rhode Island furnished 25,236 soldiers to the Union armies, of which 1,685 died. These comprised 12 infantry regiments, three cavalry regiments, and an assortment of artillery and miscellaneous outfits. Rhode Island used its … See more