• England: The English explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano claimed the area for England in 1524. In 1636, Roger Williams founded the Providence Plantation, which was the first permanent English settlement in Rhode Island.
• Netherlands: The Dutch established a trading post on Aquidneck Island in 1636, which they called "Nieuw Holland." The Dutch were forced to abandon the island in 1654 after the English won the First Anglo-Dutch War.
• France: The French established a colony on Block Island in 1658, but they were forced to abandon it in 1674 after the English won the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
• United States: Rhode Island was one of the original thirteen colonies of the United States. It became a state in 1790.