I have compiled this time-line from several sources to use in fleshing out the background of my Rhode Island ancestors' lives. It is by no means exhaustive or fully representative of the rich history of the region. It primarily focuses on the founding of the earliest towns in Rhode Island and New England, as well as other significant social, political, and religious events in the region.

1500-1638		Aquidneck is contested ground and hunting lands of the Wampanoags and Narragansetts.
1524		Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian explorer working for the French, explores Aquidneck and Narragansett Bay.
1614		Adriaen Block, a Dutch explorer, visits and maps Rhode Island region.
1620		Pilgrims found Plymouth Colony.
1630		Puritans found Boston and the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1634 or 1635		William Blackstone leaves Boston and settles in what is now Cumberland, RI, on the banks of the Blackstone River, claimed by Rehoboth, Mass.
1635	Oct 9	Roger Williams banished by Massachusetts General Court.
1636	Jan	Roger Williams flees Salem; buys land on east bank of Seekonk river from Massasoit (Ousamequin) of the Wampanoag.
	June	Roger Williams crosses the Seekonk and founds Providence with others.
		Thomas Hooker and puritans found Hartford and Connecticut Colony.
1637	Aug 20	Providence compact signed.
	Nov 30	Antinomians and others disarmed at Boston.
		About this year, Richard Smith establishes a trading post at Cocumscussoc (Wickford) in the Narragansett Country.
		Roger Williams and Gov. John Winthrop purchase Prudence Island and Patience Island.
1638	Mar 7	Pocasset (Portsmouth) Compact signed (probably at Boston?).
	Mar 24	Roger Williams obtains a deed from Canonicus and Miantonomi for the Providence lands; William Coddington and friends buy Aquidneck from Canonicus and Miantonomi.
	May 13	First meeting at Pocasset, meeting house ordered built.
	Oct 8	Roger Williams deeds lands at Providence to others.
	Dec 18	Samuel Gorton ordered to leave Plymouth Colony.
		Pawtuxet inhabited.
		Protestants found New Haven and Quinnipiac Colony.
1639	Mar 16	First Baptist church established at Providence.
	Apr 28	Coddington and others split from the Hutchinsons, resolve to form new town.
	Apr 30	Samuel Gorton at Portsmouth.
	May 16	First meeting at Newport and its bounds defined (included Conanicut Island)
	May 20	Inhabitants of Newport admitted.
	Jun 5	Newport lands proportioned.
		Fundamental Orders of Connecticut signed at Hartford.
1640	Mar 8	Samuel Gorton at Providence.
	Jul 27	Providence men sign an agreement to form a government.
	July	A dividing line between Providence and Pawtuxet is established.
1641	Mar 12	Pocasset renamed Portsmouth, unites with Newport.
	Nov 17	Samuel Gorton at Pawtuxet
1642	Sep 8	Pawtuxet subjects itself to Massachusetts authority (until 1658).
		Roger Williams sent to England to obtain a charter (returns successful in 1644).
1643	Jan 12	Samuel Gorton and others have deed of Shawomet from Miantonomi.
1644		Dr. John Clarke organizes First Baptist Church at Newport.
1646		Samuel Gorton and others obtain protection for Shawomet, which is renamed Warwick, while on a mission to England.
1647	May 19	Providence, Warwick, Portsmouth and Newport unite
1649	Jan	Coddington goes to England and secures commission as Governor for life.
1651		Providence and Warwick split from Newport and Portsmouth.
		Roger Williams and Dr. John Clarke sent to England to obtain a new charter.
1654		Roger Williams returns from England; the four towns re-unite.
1656		Quakers arrive on Aquidneck.
		Second Baptist Church founded in Newport.
1657	Jan 20	The native sachems deeded land in the Narragansett called Pettaquamscott (later Kings Town) to Samuel Wilbur and others.
	Apr 15	A deed was obtained for Conanicut Island and Dutch Island.
1658	May 22	Benedict Arnold and John Greene purchase Goat Island, Coaster's Harbor Island, and Dyer's Island from Cachanaquant, Chief Sachem of the Narragansetts.
		Pawtuxet reunited to Providence.
1660	Jan 29	Hugh Mosher and others obtain a deed for Misquamicut (Westerly) from the sachem Socho, who had been given the land by Conanicus and Miantonomi for driving off the Pequot in 1637.
	Aug 27	Block Islandbought.
1661	Apr	Settlers arrive on Block Island and found New Shoreham.
	Sep	Lands at Misquamicut (Westerly) divided.
	Nov	Connecticut begins harassment of Westerly settlers.
1663	Jul 3	Residents of Wickford place themselves under Connecticut jurisdiction.
	Jul 28	Dr. John Clarke obtains a charter for the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations from Charles II, and returns to Rhode Island.
1668	May 4	Residents of Wickford request that Connecticut provide protection for their government.
1671	Dec 23	Samuel Hubbard and others form the Seventh Day Baptist congregation.
1675	June	Outbreak of King Philip's War.
	Dec 19	Narragansett (Great) Swamp Fight; over 1000 natives and 200 Englishmen killed.
1676	Aug 12	King Philip (Metacom, son of Massasoit of the Wampanoag) killed in battle near Mt. Hope.
1677	Oct 31	East Greenwich grant.
1678		Jamestown incorporated on Conanicut Island.
1679	Jul 29	Residents of Narragansett (Wickford) petition the King to put an end to differences in the government of their town.
1680		A committee is formed to codify the laws of the colony.
1681	Sep 1	Settlement at Mt. Hope named Bristol.
1682	Jun 2	Saconett renamed Little Compton.
1683	Aug 22	Governor Cranfield of New Hampshire holds an assembly at Richard Smith's in Wickford.
1687	Jan 12	Sir Edmund Andros dissolves the Charter and RI becomes part of the Dominion of New England. The towns of the King's Province are re-named: Rochester (Kingstown), Haversham (Westerly), and Dedford (East Greenwich).
1689	Jul 3	French privateers plunder New Shoreham on Block Island.
		Charter government is resurrected.
1708		The Assembly begins to order the sale of several large tracts of vacant land in Narragansett, to be part of Kings Town.
1722		Kings Town split into North Kingstown and South Kingstown.
1738		Charlestown set off from Westerly.
1747		Richmond set off from Charlestown.

Bartlett, John Russell, ed. Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England. Printed by order of the General Assembly, Providence, 1856-1862 (Reprinted New York, 1968.

Bridenbaugh, Carl. Fat Mutton and Liberty of Conscience: Society in Rhode Island, 1636-1690. Brown University Press, Providence, 1974.

James, Sydney V. Colonial Rhode Island: A History. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1975.