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With an area of just over 1,200 square miles, Rhode Island is by far the smallest state in the U.S. It also has the longest official name (State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations), reflecting the quirky, independent nature of the Ocean State.

Roger Williams founded Providence in 1636 after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs. Portsmouth was founded for similar reasons a year later by Anne Hutchinson and others. The Ocean State has stood for independence and freedom to dissent ever since. Rhode Island was the first colony to declare independence from the British and the last of the original thirteen to ratify the Constitution.

Rhode Island was heavily involved in the slave trade after the revolution, controlling up to 90% of the American trade at one juncture. The 1800s brought the Industrial Revolution to the state, significantly increasing Rhode Island’s urban population. This development, along with a major influx of European immigrants, changed the face of the state without dampening its defiant spirit.

The Ocean State can be divided into two regions: the lowlands of the Narragansett Bay area lay in the East, while somewhat more elevated Western Rhode Island is part of the New England Upland. Despite this distinction, the state is mostly flat, with no real mountains. Rhode Island has a humid continental climate with hot rainy summers and cold snowy winters.

Narragansett Bay is Rhode Island’s main topographical feature. The bay features over 30 islands and gives the state the densest coastline of any state. The largest of Narragansett Bay’s islands houses the towns of Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth and gave the state its name (though it’s more commonly called Aquidneck Island).

The smallest state in the U.S., Rhode Island has had an impact on the life of the nation that goes well beyond its borders. Founded on dissent, Rhode Island is a fiercely independent place defined by its heart rather than its size.