…(circa 1603–83), American clergyman; born in England. Banished from Massachusetts in 1635, he founded the colony of Rhode Island and, within it, the settlement of Providence in 1636 as a refuge from political and religious persecution. He served as Rhode Island’s president 1654–57…
…the capital of Rhode Island, a port near the mouth of the Providence River, on the Atlantic coast; population 171,557 (est. 2008). It was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams (1604–83) as a haven for religious dissenters…
