Conanicut Island ( ) is an island in

Narragansett Bay Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering , of which is in Rhode Island. The bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. S ...

in the American state of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. The second-largest in the Bay, it is connected on the east to Newport on

Aquidneck Island Aquidneck Island ( ), officially known as Rhode Island, is an island in Narragansett Bay in the state of Rhode Island. The total land area is , which makes it the largest island in the bay. The 2020 United States Census reported its population as ...

by the Claiborne Pell Bridge, commonly known as the Newport Bridge, and on the west to North Kingstown on the mainland via the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge. The town of Jamestown comprises the entire island. The U.S. Census Bureau reported a land area of and a population of 5,622 in 2000. A

tombolo A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. It is a deposition landform by which an island becomes attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar. Once attached, the island is then known as a tied island. The word ''t ...

connects the southern part of Conanicut to an extension of the island to the southwest.

History

Conanicut Island was a seasonal home to the Narragansett tribe of American Indians. The largest Indian cemetery in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

is located on the island, and artifacts have been recovered from a site near the elementary school. The island is named for Chief

Canonicus Canonicus (c. 1565 – June 4, 1647) was a chief of the Narragansett people. He was wary of the colonial settlers, but he ultimately befriended Roger Williams and other settlers. Biography Canonicus was born around 1565,Benjamin J. Lossing ...

of the Narragansetts, who maintained his royal residence on the island.Rhode Island Geography
/ref> In 1636 or 1637, Dutch

fur traders The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

paid to use the island of Quentenis (today’s Dutch Island, located just west of Conanicut) as a base for their activities. In 1638, the English colonists made arrangements to use Conanicut Island for grazing sheep, and Canonicus was one of the Narragansett

sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

s who gave consent. They referred to the island in his honor, and the Jamestown seal today includes the figure of a sheep. Conanicut Island was a part of the island territory included in a commission which the Council of State of England granted to

William Coddington William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport in that colony, govern ...

in 1651 separating them from the mainland and making him indefinite governor of the islands (later revoked).Bicknell, Thomas Williams. ''The History of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations''. New York: The American Historical Society, Inc. (1920). Vol. 3, p. 1184. In 1657, a consortium of about 100 buyers purchased Conanicut, Dutch, and Gould Islands. They divided Conanicut into roughly a dozen large plots and reserved Dutch Island and parts of Conanicut for common use.

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

(great-grandfather of the Revolutionary War

traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

, who became governor of the Colony of Rhode Island the same year) and William Case were among the purchasers. The Indians and colonists lived side-by-side in relative peace for almost four decades. Conflicts eventually occurred in a number of places in southern New England, leading to what is known as

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

. Life in the region was dominated by the colonists after 1676, although Conanicut Island remained a haven for many Indians. In 1725, a ferry was established between the island and Newport. Another ferry was established to

South Kingstown South Kingstown is a town in, and the county seat of, Washington County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area, behind New ...

in 1748.

Notable residents

* Daniel Fones * Lauren Buckley

References

{{Authority control Islands of Narragansett Bay Islands of Newport County, Rhode Island Islands of Rhode Island Jamestown, Rhode Island