Giovanni da Verrazano, the guy that operates a toll bridge to Brooklyn from Staten Island, first touched base here in 1524. The first person of any consequence to come here was William Blackstone in 1634. Roger Williams came in 1636 and set up the first settlement in Providence, at the head of Narragannset Bay. In 1644, Williams obtained a charter from the King and established Rhode Island, or Providence Plantations as it was called then.
Rhode Island was the first of the original thirteen colonies to declare independence from England (May 1776). It was the last to agree to join the United States. It became the 13th state in 1790. There were border disputes with both Connecticut and Massachusetts. The last of these was resolved in 1862.
Rhode Island was never a hot bed of activities for the Putnam Clan. Near as I can figure, only one Putnam, Jokton, was in the state prior to the Revolution. All the early Putnams in Rhode Island had simply moved a few miles across the Massachusetts border.