<P> The history of Rhode Island includes the history of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations since pre-colonial times . </P> <P> Indian inhabitants occupied most of the area now known as Rhode Island, including the Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Niantic tribes . Many Indians were killed by diseases, possibly contracted through contact with European settlers and explorers (though no definitive source has been proven), and through warfare with other tribes and with European settlers . The Narragansett language died out for many years but was partially preserved in Roger Williams's A Key into the Languages of America (1643). </P> <P> In 1636, Roger Williams settled on land granted to him by the Narragansett tribe at the tip of Narragansett Bay after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views . He called the site "Providence Plantations" and declared it a place of religious freedom . </P> <P> In 1638, Anne Hutchinson, William Coddington, John Clarke, Philip Sherman, and other religious dissidents settled on Rhode Island after conferring with Williams, forming the settlement of Portsmouth which was governed by the Portsmouth Compact . The southern part of the island became the separate settlement of Newport after disagreements among the founders . </P>

What was the original purpose of the rhode island colony