Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Rhode Island

RHODE ISLAND, one of the six New England States, and the smallest in extent of all the States, is one of the original thirteen which formed the American Union. It has an actual land area of only 1054.6 square miles, the waters of Narragansett Bay, its chief physical feature, comprising an additional area of not far from 360 square miles. It lies between 41° 18' and 42° 3' N. lat., and 71° 6' and 71° 55' W. long., its greatest length from north to south being about 48 miles, and its greatest width from east to west about 35 miles. It is shut in on the east and north by Massachusetts, and on the west by Connecticut, while its southern shores are washed by the Atlantic Ocean.

Physical Characteristics.—The geological formation of the western portion of the State is chiefly that of the Montalban gneiss, which characterizes a great part of southern New England (see geological sketch map of New England, in article, vol. xvii. p. 391), but under the bay and to the east of it is an extensive coal-bearing formation, from which at different times upwards of 750,000 tons of coal have been taken. The only other important deposit is one of magnetic oxide of iron. The climate of Rhode Island, though variable, differs from that of the exposed coast of Massachusetts Bay in the absence of harassing east winds; while the proximity of the southern parts of the State (Newport and vicinity) to the Gulf Stream results in an atmosphere of unusual warmth and moisture, and at the same time comparatively equable. No great extremes, either of heat or of cold, are experienced in the State.

(W. E. F.)