First Known Inhabitants

  The first known inhabitants were mainly Native Americans and tribes. The native tribes were: the Narragansett, the Wampanoag, the Cowesett, the Shawoment, the Nipmuck, the Niantic, and the Pequot. The Narragansett tribe was the largest, and people believed that there were around 7,000 Narragansett poeple who lived in Rhode Island. The other tribes lived on many islands of Rhode Island.
      

Exploration

  The first people to explore Rhode Island were Native Americans, and they reached Rhode Island at least 12,000 years ago. There were very few Native Americans, so they had plenty of space for hunting and fishing. They lived in small hunting camps and did many things there.

Settlement

  In the 1500s, European explorers, mainly Deutch, settled along  Rhode Island shores. In 1657, a group of Quakers arrived in Newport. They converted among a few of the original settlers. Later, Newport became a center of Quakerism.

Colonial History

  In the year 1636, when he was thirty-three years old, Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts. His opponents wanted him to be shipped to England. But when Roger Williams found out about their plan, he escaped with a few friends to Rhode Island and settled at Narragansett Bay.