Yep, it's that tiny little state known as Rhode Island, abbreviated as RI. I have covered the geography of it and the people most credited for the settlements that led to RI's statehood (and the related events) in earlier posts. However, there were other "beginnings" in those pre-statehood years, but way too much for all to be discussed here. I am going to touch on a few things, though, that will give you a little bit of a "feel" for how things really got started and what it was like back then.





First of all, exactly who were the first visitors within the area known as Rhode Island? There are "signs" and beliefs that the earliest visitors were from medieval Ireland or from Portugal. And, then, there are "signs" and beliefs that the earliest visitors were Norsemen (Vikings). However, there isn't enough evidence to prove any of these beliefs. So, although there is something called the Viking Tower (in Newport), no one knows for sure who built it or why it was built. (It's RI's version of Stonehenge or the figures on Easter Island.)



Without proof of visits by those I have mentioned, historians claim that the absolutely verifiable first visitor was the Italian navigator, Giovanni Verrazzano, in 1524.



On the map above, you should be able to locate an island down off the southern shore of Rhode Island, near the bottom of the picture. That is where Verrazzano landed. He thought it looked a lot like the Island of Rhodes, so he called it Rhode Island.

Later on, when settlements were being established, the founders erroneously believed that another island, the one the Native Americans called Aquidneck Island, was the Rhode Island that Verrazzano had visited and named. So, they automatically called this island Rhode Island. (See the area on the map that is colored red.) **So, what happened to the original island of Rhode Island? Well, a Dutch explorer by the name of Adriaen Block, while on his way to somewhere else, "bumped" into the island, didn't see anything that suggested anyone else had been there, so he put his name on it and called it Block Island. That is the official name that island has been known as ever since.**



So, who was the first person to establish this area as a part of New England? Well, it was John Smith (of Virginia fame) who explored and charted the northeastern coastline and called the area New England because it reminded him of the look of England.



Roger Williams came to the area and established the first settlement here. (Yet, there is no county, city, township, or village anywhere within the state called Williams.)



Williams was not the first white settler here, though. That honor does go to a man named William and there's a river, a valley, and a roadway named after him! The name Blackstone can be found from Providence through the northern region of the state and well into Massachusetts where there's even a town named after him.



Yet, his name wasn't even Blackstone! It was legally and officially Blaxton, as you can see on this plaque that is located in Boston.

These are just some of the many interesting facts and oddities found in Rhode Island's early history.