Facts about Rhode Island
The name "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" can be traced back to the Royal Charter of 1663, granted to the Rhode Island colonists by King Charles II of England.
The largest tribes that lived near Rhode Island were the Wampanoag, Pequots, Narragansett, and Nipmuck.
Rhode Island has the lowest level of energy consumption per capita of any state.
Rhode Island was ranked 43rd in population according to the 2000 U.S. census.
Rhode Island's agricultural outputs are nursery stock, vegetables, dairy products, and eggs.
On the home front, Rhode Island, along with the other northern states, used its industrial capacity to supply the Union Army with the materials it needed to win the war.
Rhode Island has a higher percentage of Americans of Portuguese ancestry (who dominate Bristol County), including Portuguese Americans and Cape Verdean Americans than any other state in the nation.
Due to an influx of residents from Boston, increased housing costs resulted in more homeless in Rhode Island.
The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island was 104°F (40°C], recorded on August 2, 1975, in Providence.
Nicknamed "The Ocean State," the nautical nature of Rhode Island's geography pervades its culture.
The state legislature is the Rhode Island General Assembly, consisting of the 75-member House of Representatives and the 38-member Senate.
Rhode Island was the second state to abolish the death penalty, and carried out its last execution in the 1840s.
Rhode Island was the Democrats' leading state in 1988 and 2000, and second-best in 1996 and 2004.
Rhode Islanders withheld ratification until May 1790, over concerns of a strong central government.
Federally, Rhode Island is one of the most reliably Democratic states during presidential elections, regularly giving the Democratic nominees one of their best showings.
The textile industry still constitutes a part of the Rhode Island economy, but it does not have the same power it once had.
The most important and traumatic event in seventeenth-century Rhode Island was King Philip's War, which occurred during 1675–1676.
Rhode Island is an example of a warm summer humid continental climate with hot, rainy summers and chilly winters.
Rhode Island has the highest percentage of Roman Catholics in the nation, mainly due to large Irish, Italian, and French-Canadian immigration (forming roughly 55-60 percent of the state's population).
Eastern Rhode Island contains the lowlands of Narragansett Bay, while western Rhode Island forms part of the New England Upland.
In 2004, Rhode Island gave John Kerry more than a 20-percentage-point margin of victory (the third-highest of any state), with 59.4 percent of its vote.
African immigrants form significant and growing communities in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island is believed by many to come from the 1524 description of Block Island by Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano, which compared it to the Greek island of Rhodes.
Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States.
During the eighteenth century, Rhode Island had developed into a center of trade and shipping.
Providence Plantations refers to the mainland area, while Rhode Island is actually the official name for Aquidneck Island in Narragansett Bay.
Rhode Island and Utah are the only two states in which a majority of the population are members of a single religious body.
Despite being called Rhode Island in common usage, most of the state lies on the mainland.
During the Civil War, Rhode Island was the first Union state to send troops in response to President Abraham Lincoln's request for help from the states.
Rhode Island and Connecticut were the only two of the thirteen English colonies never ruled by a governor appointed by the king.
Rhode Island's 2000 total gross state product was $33 billion, placing it 45th in the nation.
Reagan did carry Rhode Island in his 49-state victory in 1984, but the state was the second weakest of the states Reagan won.
Rhode Island's tradition of independence and dissent gave it a prominent role in the American Revolution.
Slavery was extant in the state as early as 1652, and by 1774, the slave population of Rhode Island was 6.3 percent, nearly twice as high as any other New England colony.
In 1980, Rhode Island was one of only six states to vote against Ronald Reagan.
John Clarke was granted a charter in 1663 for Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which effectively united the two colonies.
The war culminated in the Great Swamp Fight, during which the colonial militia destroyed the Narragansett village in the Great Swamp in southern Rhode Island.
Rhode Island has more than 400 miles (640 km) of coastline, with Narragansett Bay forming a deep 28-mile wedge into the state.
Rhode Island's continued growth and modernization led to the creation of an urban mass transit system and improved health and sanitation programs.
Agriculture. Rhode Island is the smallest state and as such does not support large agricultural pursuits. In terms of revenue generated Rhode Island's top five agricultural products are greenhouse and nursery products, sweet corn, dairy products, potatoes, and cattle and calves.
The first mention of the name Rhode Island or any of its variations in connection with Narragansett Bay is in the letter of Giovanni da Verrazzano, the explorer, dated July 8, 1524, in which he refers to an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay, and likens the island to the Island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea.
54.61% of the people in Rhode Island, Rhode Island are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. 44.89% are Catholic; 0.38% are LDS; 1.44% are another Christian faith; 0.84% in Rhode Island, Rhode Island are Jewish; 0.23% are an eastern faith; 0.14% affilitates with Islam.
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his radical views, Roger Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and founded the first permanent white settlement in Providence in 1636.
Roger Williams founded the colony in 1636. He guaranteed religious and political freedom. Religious refugees from the Massachusetts Bay Colony settled in Rhode Island. It was one of the most liberal colonies.