Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of England's original Thirteen Colonies established on the east coast of North America bordering the Atlantic Ocean. After the American Revolution, it became the state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Early America

The land that became the English Colony was first home to the Narragansett Indians which sparked the idea of the town of Narragansett to show respect to the Indians and the Nipmuc. European contact began by the Dutch, and was initially claimed by the Colony of New Netherlands. English settlement occurred along the Massachusetts Bay. Once the English claimed the area of New England, Dutch influence was particularly withdrawn from the area, though still remained after that; arguably through the name Red Island, which was later anglicized to Rhode Island. Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams when he fled the Massachusetts Colony in 1636, and it became a state on May 29, 1790.

Providence

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Plantation

A plantation is a large piece of land (or water) usually in a tropical or semitropical area where one crop is specifically planted for widespread commercial sale and usually tended by resident laborers. The crops grown include fast-growing trees (often conifers), cotton, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar cane, sisal, oil seeds (e.g. oil palms), rubber trees, and various fruits. Protectionist policies and natural comparative advantage have sometimes contributed to determining where plantations were located.

Among the earliest examples of plantations were the latifundia of the Roman Empire, which produced large quantities of wine and olive oil for export. Plantation agriculture grew rapidly with the increase in international trade and the development of a worldwide economy that followed the expansion of European colonial empires. Like every economic activity, it has changed over time. Earlier forms of plantation agriculture were associated with large disparities of wealth and income, foreign ownership and political influence, and exploitative social systems such as indentured labour and slavery.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island (ⁱ/ˌroʊdˈaɪlənd/, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and the second most densely populated (behind New Jersey) of the 50 U.S. states; its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, and the Atlantic Ocean (via Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound) to the south.

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown, and later, was the fourth to ratify—February 9, 1778—the Articles of Confederation between the newly sovereign states. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, and initially refused to ratify it. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island became the thirteenth and last state to ratify the Constitution.

The Arboretum, Charlotte

The Arboretum refers to the general area of Charlotte which surrounds the eponymous mixed-use shopping center, apartment community, office complex and medical park which opened in 1989. The shopping center is home to Charlotte's first Wal-Mart store, and the area's name comes from the abundance of trees in the area. The center of the neighborhood is at Route 16 and 51, and the community is bordered by the SouthPark neighborhood to the northwest, the Ballantyne area to the southwest and the town of Matthews and Providence High to the east.

The Arboretum area is schooled by Elizabeth Lane Elementary, Providence Spring Elementary, South Charlotte Middle, and Providence High. United Faith Christian Academy and Carmel Christian Schools are local private schools in the area. In 2009, Fire Station 39 was constructed for the area.

The area is home to the wealthy subdivisions of Providence Plantation, Hembstead, Beverly Crest, Raintree and the communities at Piper Glen. Since the early 1990s, as with many other areas of Charlotte, The Arboretum has seen explosive growth.