PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, RHODE ISLAND AND. The clergyman Roger Williams, banished by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay for propagating "new and dangerous opinions," founded the Providence Plantations in June 1636.

I pick up a copy of Plantation in Yankeeland by University of Rhode Island President Emeritus Carl R. Woodward (Pequot Press, 1972), which promises information about Indian Wars and slaveholding in the vicinity of Smith’s Castle, also known as Cocumscussoc. Williams bought a large tract of land from the Narragansett Indians, and in 1638 joined … Now, opponents have revived an effort to lop off the plantations reference, saying it evokes the legacy of slavery.
The colony of Rhode Island was founded between 1636 and 1642 by five separate and combative groups, most of whom had been expelled or left the Massachusetts Bay colony for disputative reasons. The Providence Plantations were the first white settlements in Rhode Island. Officially, Rhode Island was incorporated as The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations when it declared statehood in 1790. The state commonly known as Rhode Island has a longer official name: State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Variations include "Little Rhodie," "L'il Rhody," and "Little Rhode."

After the Restoration, however, this charter granted by Parliament was not considered valid, and in 1663 Roger Williams secured from Charles II a second charter for "Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," which confirmed the privileges granted by the first, made a land grant, and provided that no one be molested "for any difference in opinion in matters of religion." The colony was first named "Roodt Eylandt" by Dutch trader Adriaen Block (1567–1627), who had explored that area for the Netherlands.

The Plantation State: This name is derived from the state's official name, "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations." Rhode Island is the smallest of the 50 states in area. Now the governor wants to … Correct pronunciation of the latter still eludes me.