what is providence plantations
Providence Plantations. Providence Plantation was a colonial plantation that was the first permanent European American settlement in present-day Rhode Island. It was established at Providence in 1636 by English clergyman Roger Williams and a small band of followers who had left the oppressive atmosphere of the Massachusetts Bay Colony to seek freedom of worship.
Providence Plantations refers to the mainland portion of the state, which included Williams's Providence Plantation and Samuel Gortonâs Shawomet Purchase (1642), which was renamed Warwick Plantation. Rhode Island referred to Aquidneck Island, on which the settlements of Portsmouth (1638) and Newport (1639) were established.