Portal:Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Portal

Rhode Island (/ˌroʊd -/ ^ⓘ ROHD) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound; and shares a small maritime border with New York, east of Long Island. Rhode Island is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly more than 1.1 million residents as of 2024^[update]. The state's population, however, has continually recorded growth in every decennial census since 1790, and it is the second-most densely populated state after New Jersey. The state takes its name from the eponymous island, though most of its land area is on the mainland. Providence is its capital and most populous city.

Native Americans lived around Narragansett Bay before English settlers began arriving in the early 17th century. Rhode Island was unique among the Thirteen British Colonies in having been founded by a refugee, Roger Williams, who fled religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to establish a haven for religious liberty. He founded Providence in 1636 on land purchased from local tribes, creating the first settlement in North America with an explicitly secular government. The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations subsequently became a destination for religious and political dissenters and social outcasts, earning it the moniker "Rogue's Island".

Rhode Island was the first colony to call for a Continental Congress, in 1774, and the first to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, on May 4, 1776. After the American Revolution, during which it was heavily occupied and contested, Rhode Island became the fourth state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, on February 9, 1778. Because its citizens favored a weaker central government, it boycotted the 1787 convention that had drafted the United States Constitution, which it initially refused to ratify; it finally ratified it on May 29, 1790, the last of the original 13 states to do so.

The state was officially named the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since the colonial era but came to be commonly known as "Rhode Island". On November 3, 2020, the state's voters approved an amendment to the state constitution formally dropping "and Providence Plantations" from its full name. Its official nickname, found on its welcome sign, is the "Ocean State", a reference to its 400 mi (640 km) of coastline and the large bays and inlets that make up about 14% of its area. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Recognized content - show another

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Ida Silverman in 1957

Ida Silverman (Hebrew: עידה סילברמן; 31 October 1882 – 1 November 1973) was a Jewish philanthropist, who with her husband helped found approximately 100 synagogues, mostly in Israel. She is the only woman to have served as vice president of the Zionist Organization of America and the American Jewish Congress.

A Russian immigrant, Silverman arrived in the United States before she was a year old. Her family settled in Providence, Rhode Island, where she completed her schooling, married, and had four children. While doing relief work during the First World War, she became aware of the depth of social problems and the effects of war on refugees. Joining the Zionist movement in the 1900s, within a decade she became a motivational speaker, advocating for the establishment of a permanent Jewish home in Palestine. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Selected article - show another

Umberto "Bert" Crenca is an American artist, arts administrator, arts advisor and educator. He is known for being a founder and long-time artistic director of the non-profit arts organization, AS220, in Providence, Rhode Island. He has been credited with helping to "lay the groundwork for much of the cultural development that shaped the Providence imaginary in the 1990s and early decades of the 21st century" by scholar Micah Salkind, and in 2010 was identified as one of Rhode Island's Most Influential People by Rhode Island Monthly. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

Did you know?

... that three decades after chasing away surveyors for a previous railroad with guns, residents of Wickford, Rhode Island, built their own railroad?
... that a Rhode Island TV station broadcast for 14 months and then was off the air for 26 years before returning?
... that a Rhode Island TV station started out by re-running an inventory of 50 hours of cartoons and 14 old movies?

Quotes related to Rhode Island

Texas could wear Rhode Island as a watch fob.

— Pat Neff

More selected quotes

Related portals

edit

Selected picture

Credit: Juliancolton

The Rose Island Light (built 1870) is located on Rose Island in Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island in the United States. The Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation preserves, maintains, and operates the lighthouse.

More selected pictures

General images

The following are images from various Rhode Island-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1County results of the 2024 Presidential election. Kamala Harris (D) won every county, though she won Kent County by a narrow margin of 1.9% (from Rhode Island)
Image 2Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 31884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 4The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 5University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 6The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 7Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 8The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 9A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 10The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 11Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 12Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 13University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 14In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 15Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 16The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 17Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 18Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 19Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 20University of Rhode Island's Meade Stadium in Kingston (from Rhode Island)
Image 21Trustom Pond, a lagoon in South Kingstown (from Rhode Island)
Image 22The International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 23Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 241884 Baseball Champion Providence Grays (from Rhode Island)
Image 25The Block Island Wind Farm is the first commercial offshore wind farm in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 26The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 27In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 28Many Rhode Islanders visit Washington County for its beaches (from Rhode Island)
Image 29Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 30Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 31The Towers are a Narragansett landmark. (from Rhode Island)
Image 32In 1636, Roger Williams and his followers founded the settlement of Providence Plantations. (from Rhode Island)
Image 33A southbound Northeast Regional train at Kingston Station (from Rhode Island)
Image 34The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)
Image 35The East Bay Bike Path in Riverside
Image 36Köppen climate types of Rhode Island, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Rhode Island)
Image 37The Pawtucket Red Sox played at McCoy Stadium (from Rhode Island)
Image 38Ethnic origins in Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 39In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams (from Rhode Island)
Image 40Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 41County results of the 2024 Presidential election. Kamala Harris (D) won every county, though she won Kent County by a narrow margin of 1.9% (from Rhode Island)
Image 42Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 43A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 44Interior of The Breakers, a Newport symbol of the Gilded Age (from Rhode Island)
Image 45The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 46In 1936, on the 300th anniversary of the settlement of Rhode Island in 1636, the U.S. Post Office issued a commemorative stamp, depicting Roger Williams (from Rhode Island)
Image 47Topographic map of Rhode Island (from Rhode Island)
Image 48The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 49Rhode Island population density map (from Rhode Island)
Image 50Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 51The United States Naval Academy was moved to Fort Adams in Newport during the Civil War. (from Rhode Island)
Image 52In 1680, Newport was the third largest Anglo-American city. It remained a prosperous population center until the 1770s. (from Rhode Island)
Image 53The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority operates a statewide system of bus transport. (from Rhode Island)
Image 54A nine-pence banknote issued by Rhode Island in 1786 (from Rhode Island)
Image 55Touro Synagogue in Newport is the oldest existing synagogue building in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 56University Hall at Brown University is one of the oldest academic buildings in the United States. (from Rhode Island)
Image 57Downtown Providence in 2008 (from Rhode Island)
Image 58Ninigret Pond National Wildlife Refuge (from Rhode Island)
Image 59Map of Rhode Island, showing major cities and roads (from Rhode Island)
Image 60Slater Mill in Pawtucket is cited as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
Image 61Rocky shoreline in Newport (from Rhode Island)
Image 62Providence Revolutionaries burned HMS Gaspee in Warwick in protest of British customs laws. (from Rhode Island)
Image 63The Rhode Island State House in Providence boasts the world's fourth largest self-supported marble dome. (from Rhode Island)
Image 64The Jamestown Verrazzano Bridge (foreground) and Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (background)

Topics

Selected panorama

Credit: User:UpstateNYer

The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge with lightning

More selected panoramas

Quality content

This is a list of recognized content, updated weekly by JL-Bot (talk · contribs) (typically on Saturdays). There is no need to edit the list yourself. If an article is missing from the list, make sure it is tagged or categorized (e.g. Category:WikiProject Rhode Island articles) correctly and wait for the next update. See WP:RECOG for configuration options.