Information AboutRhode Island |
The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, usually called simply '''Rhode Island''' (/), is a State in the New England region of the Northeastern United States Of America . It is the smallest state by Area , but the state with the longest official name. Rhode Island was the first of the Thirteen Original American Colonies to Declare Independence from British rule, signaling the start of the American Revolution . Rhode Island was also the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the United States Constitution . Despite its name, most of the state of Rhode Island lies on the North America n Mainland . ''Providence Plantations'' refers to the mainland, while ''Rhode Island'' was the 17th and 18th century name for Aquidneck Island (now composed of the city of Newport , and the towns of Middletown and Portsmouth ). http://www.dlt.ri.gov/lmi/map.htm accessed 27 February 2007 Rhode Island has long held the nickname of “Little Rhody,” though the state has officially adopted the nickname of "the Ocean State," as nearly one tenth of Rhode Island's inland area is covered by salt water, and no resident is more than a 45-minute drive from the water's edge. "The Living Bay , Providenceri.com NAME In 1524 , the famous Italian navigator, Giovanni Da Verrazzano was the first European to visit any part of what is now Rhode Island. He came to what is now Block Island and named it "Luisa" after Louise Of Savoy , Queen Mother Of France . Verrazzano described Luisa as "about the size of the Island of Rhodes ". When the founders of the Colony Of Rhode Island And Providence Plantations surveyed the land, they thought that Aquidneck Island was the place. A mistake occurred in 1614 , when Luisa was charted by the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block , after whom Luisa was renamed by the Dutch West India Company ; however, their motives in doing so are unknown. The official explanation by the State of Rhode Island is that Adriaen Block named the area "Roodt Eylandt" meaning "red island" in reference to the red clay that lined the shore, and that the name was later anglicized when the region came under British rule.[http://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php GEOGRAPHY Rhode Island covers an area of approximately 1,214 Square Mile s (3,144 Km&2 ) and is bordered on the north and east by Massachusetts , on the west by Connecticut , and on the south by Rhode Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean . It shares a water border with New York between Block Island and Long Island . The mean Elevation of the state is 200 Feet (60 M ). Located within the New England province of the Appalachian Region, Rhode Island has two distinct natural regions. Eastern Rhode Island contains the Lowland s of the Narragansett Bay , while Western Rhode Island forms part of the New England Upland. Narragansett Bay is a major feature of the state's topography. Block Island lies approximately 12 Mile s (19 km) off the southern coast of the mainland. Within the Bay, there are over 30 islands. The largest is Aquidneck Island, shared by the municipalities of Newport , Middletown , and Portsmouth . The second-largest island is Conanicut ; the third-largest is Prudence . Nicknamed the Ocean State, Rhode Island is home to a number of oceanfront Beaches . Rhode Island is mostly flat with no real mountains. Rhode Island's highest natural point is Jerimoth Hill , only 812 feet (247 m) above sea level. Climate Rhode Island is an example of a warm, summer Humid Continental Climate with hot, rainy summers and cold, snowy winters. The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was 105 ° F (40 ° C ), recorded on August 2, 1975 in Providence, RI . The lowest temperature in Rhode Island, -13 °F (-25 °C), was recorded on February 6, 1996 in Coventry, RI . Monthly average temperatures range from a high of 82 °F (28 °C) to a low of 20 °F (-7 °C). Average Temperature Range , RSSWeather.com HISTORY See Also: History of Rhode Island Colonial Era In 1524, Italian navigator Giovanni De Verrazzano traversed the mid-Atlantic coast of North America, searching for an all-water route through North America to China. In March of that year, he left what is now New York harbor and headed east until he discovered what was later called Block Island . Natives guided him into what is now Newport, Rhode Island harbor. He remained for two weeks while his crew surveyed the bay and the surrounding mainland. In early May, 1524, Verrazzano departed to renew his search for a Northwest Passage . In 1614, the Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the island that is now called Block Island . Native American inhabitants included the Narragansett Tribe , occupying most of the area, and the closely related Niantic tribe. Most of the Native Americans were decimated by introduced diseases, intertribal warfare, and the disastrous King Philip's War , but remnants of the Niantic merged into the Narragansett tribe, where they remain on a federally recognized reservation. In 1636, Roger Williams , after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay. He called the site Providence and declared it a place of religious freedom. The following year, Anne Hutchinson was banished from Massachusetts for criticizing the clergy there. She and some others, including William Coddington and John Clark , founded the town of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island . In 1639, Coddington left Portsmouth and founded Newport on Aquidneck Island. In that same year a formal government was established for the island. William Coddington was the first governor and Philip Sherman was the first Secretary. In 1643, Samuel Gorton founded Shawomet, which is now called Warwick . In 1644, the name of Aquidneck Island was changed to Rhode Island. John Clarke was granted a Charter in 1663 for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which effectively united the two colonies into one. Under the terms of the charter, only landowners could vote. Before the Industrial Revolution , when most people were employed as farmers, this was considered democratic. The original charter was used as the state constitution until 1842. The relationship between the , Pequots , Narragansett , and Nipmuck . One native named Squanto , from the Wampanoag tribe, stayed with the Pilgrims and taught them many valuable skills needed to survive in the area. He also helped greatly with the eventual peace between the colonists and the natives. Roger Williams had kept the powerful Narragansetts on friendly terms with local white settlers. Having kept the Native Americans on friendly terms with settlers, the Narragansetts were even persuaded to form an alliance with the English in 1637, carrying out an attack that nearly extinguished the warlike Pequots. This peace did not last long, however, and by 1670 even the friendly tribes who had greeted Williams and the Pilgrims became estranged from the colonists and conflicts erupted. The most important and traumatic event in 17th century Rhode Island was King Philip's War , which occurred during 1675–1676. King Philip (his British nickname. His real name was Metacomet ) was the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. The settlers of Portsmouth had purchased their land from his father, Massasoit . King Philip rebelled against the English. The first attacks were around Narrangansett Bay, but spread throughout New England. Revolution and industrialization: 1770-1860 Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution. In 1772, the first bloodshed of the American Revolution took place in Rhode Island when a band of Providence residents attacked a grounded British ship for enforcing unpopular British trade regulations in the incident which would be come to known as the , 2006 .) and the last to ratify the Constitution (which replaced the Articles of Confederation) ( May 29 , 1790 )—doing the latter only after being threatened with having its exports taxed as a foreign nation. As the Industrial Revolution moved large numbers of workers into the cities, a permanently landless, and therefore voteless, class developed. By 1829, 60% of the state's free white males were ineligible to vote. Several attempts had been made to address this problem, but none passed. In 1842, Thomas Dorr drafted a liberal Constitution which was passed by popular referendum. However, the conservative sitting governor, Samuel Ward King , opposed the people's wishes, leading to the Dorr Rebellion . Although this collapsed, a modified version of the constitution was passed in November, which allowed any white male to vote that he owned land or could pay a US $1 Poll Tax . In addition to industrialization, Rhode Island was heavily involved in the slave trade during the post-revolution era. Slavery was extant in the state as early as 1652, and by 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3%, nearly twice as high as any other New England Colony. In the late 18th century, several Rhode Island merchant families began actively engaging in the triangle slave trade. Notable among these was the Brown family, for whom Brown University is named, although some important Browns became prominent abolitionists. In the years after the Revolution, Rhode Island merchants controlled between 60% and 90% of the American trade in African slaves. Slavery in Rhode Island , from Slavery in the North. Accessed , 2006 Civil War to Progressive Era: 1860-1929 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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