In 1636, Roger Williams settled at the tip of Narragansett Bay after being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views, on land granted to him by the Narragansett tribe. He called the site "Providence Plantation" and declared it a place of religious freedom. Critics at the time sometimes referred to it as "Rogue's Island".
On July 15, 1663 King Charles II granted the Charter of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Colonial Rhode Island became a Charter Colony which was largely self-governed. The charter established the rules of government, but allowed the Rhode Island colonists a great amount of freedom within those rules.