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}} Rhode Island ( or ), officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,〔(【引用サイトリンク】Constitution of 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, but the second most densely populated of the 50 U.S. states (behind New Jersey). Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west and Massachusetts to the north and east, and it shares a water boundary with New York's Long Island to the southwest. It also has the longest official name of all the states. Rhode Island was the first of the original Thirteen Colonies to declare independence from British rule, declaring itself independent on May 4, 1776, two months before any other colony. The state was also the last of the thirteen original colonies to ratify the United States Constitution.〔Jensen, ''Founding'', 679; Friedenwald, ''Interpretation'', 92–93. Retrieved April 12, 2009.〕 Rhode Island's official nickname is "The Ocean State", a reference to the state's geography, since Rhode Island has several large bays and inlets that amount to about 14% of its total area. Its land area is , but its total area is significantly larger. ==Origin of the name== Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States. The official name of the state is ''State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,'' which is derived from the merger of two colonies. ''Rhode Island'' colony was founded on what is now commonly called Aquidneck Island, the largest of several islands in Narragansett Bay, and included the settlements of Newport and Portsmouth. ''Providence Plantations'' was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the area now known as the city of Providence. It is unclear how Aquidneck Island came to be known as Rhode Island, although there are two popular theories. * Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay, which he likened to the island of Rhodes (part of modern Greece). Subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island that Verrazzano had named. The Pilgrims who later colonized the area assumed that Verrazzano's "Rhodes" was Aquidneck. Giovanni da Verrazzano named a place on Rhode Island ''Puntum Iovianum'' in honor of his friend Paolo Giovio (Jovium in Latin) (1483 - 1542) humanist and historian. Giovio owned the Codex Cellere of Giovanni da Verrazzano containing the text of his first trip. * A second theory concerns the fact that Adriaen Block passed by Aquidneck during his expeditions in the 1610s, described in a 1625 account of his travels as "an island of reddish appearance" (in 17th-century Dutch, "''een rodlich Eylande''").〔(''Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien, uit veelerhande Schriften ende Aen-teekeningen van verscheyden Natien (Leiden, Bonaventure & Abraham Elseviers, 1625)'' ). An English translation of the relevant text: "Documentary History of Rhode Island (1916): (archive.org )〕 Historians have theorized that this "reddish appearance" resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore.〔Elisha Potter, 1835. The Early History of Narragansett. Collections of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, v3. (books.google.com )〕〔Samuel G. Arnold, History of Rhode Island (1859). (books.google.com )〕 The earliest documented use of the name "Rhode Island" for Aquidneck was in 1637, by Roger Williams. The name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words: "Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island." The name "Isle of Rodes" is found used in a legal document as late as 1646.〔(Office of the Secretary of State: A. Ralph Mollis: State Library ). Sos.ri.gov. Retrieved on 2014-04-12.〕〔Hamilton B. Staples, "Origins of the Names of the State of the Union", Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, vol. 68 (1882): (Google Docs, Origins of the Names of the State of the Union )〕 Dutch maps as late as 1659 call the island "Red Island" (''Roodt Eylant''). Williams was a theologian forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Seeking religious and political tolerance, he and others founded "Providence Plantations" as a free proprietary colony. "Providence" referred to the divine providence and "plantations" referred to an English term for a colony. "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" is the longest official name of any state in the Union. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rhode Island」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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