Narragansett Bay is one of the most famous bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound. It covers around 147 mi² (380 km²), and the Bay forms New England’s major estuary, which functions as an open natural harbor, and includes a small archipelago.

I must tell you that there are over 30 islands in the bay but the three most famous islands are as follows. They are: Aquidneck Island, Conanicut Island, and Prudence Island. The water bodies which form the part of the Narragansett Bay include the Sakonnet River; Mount Hope Bay; and the southern, tidal part of the Taunton River.

Providence is the Rhode islands largest city and I must tell you that it is the state capital as well. New port is another important city around the state. The Narragansett Bay is a ria that is a series of the flooded river valley formed of the dropped crustal blocks in a horst and graben system that is slowly subsiding sandwiched between a still-shifting fault system.

On the other hand, the estuary system is gigantic in contrast to the current flow of the three small rivers that enter the bay, in the northeast, the Taunton River and in the northwest, the Providence and Seekonk Rivers. The current profile of Narragansett Bay is instead the consequence of the latest glaciations of New England, under the edges of the Lauren tide ice sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum, about 18,000 B.P.

I really feel that up till now you must have got an idea how this bay is formed and I must tell you that you will really love visiting it.

History
The first visit to the European was really in the late 16th century. At the time, the area in the region of the bay was populated by two different and separate groups of natives: the west side of the bay was occupied by the Narragansett’s, and the east side was being occupied by the Wampanoag, who occupied the land east to Cape Cod.

It is really accepted by the most historians that the first European to enter the bay was an Italian whose name was Giovanni da verrazzano. It is believed that he entered the bay after visiting the New York Bay. I must tell you that he entered the bay in the 16th century in fact in the year 1524. His ship name was La Dauphine.  Later in the year 1614 the great explorer Adrian block visited the bay and prepared the map of the area.

You can call the Adrian block as the explorer who explored this bay. This bay has seen many invasions by some of the really great Europeans and is now one of the busiest places of the country.

Tags: history, narragansett bay, rhode island