Providence

Seaport and capital of Rhode Island, seat of Providence county; third-largest city in New England; on Narragansett Bay and the Providence River, 27 mi/43 km from the Atlantic Ocean, 65 km/40 mi southwest of Boston; population (2000 est) 173,600. It is a commercial, financial, and industrial centre. Jewellery, silverware, machinery, processed foods, and metal goods are manufactured. It became state capital in 1900.

Providence was founded in 1636 by American colonist Roger Williams, who had been exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs; he bought the land from the Narragansett American Indians and named it in gratitude for God's ‘providence’. The settlement joined with the Newport Colony in 1644, and the royal charter of 1663 promised religious freedom. By the mid-18th century Providence ships were involved in the profitable triangular trade in molasses, rum, and slaves between Africa, the West Indies, and the American colonies. During the American Revolution it was a base for American and French troops, and also for privateering. Industry developed in the 19th century, and Providence became a leading centre for the manufacture of textiles, tools, and steam engines. Immigration in the early 20th century created large Italian and French communities. In the 1920s, the textile industry relocated to the southern states; the manufacture of jewellery and silverware developed after World War II.

The oldest buildings in Providence are on College Hill, an 18th- and 19th-century residential area: notably the First Baptist Church (1638); John Brown House (1786), a three-storey Georgian mansion; the Old State House (1762), where the Rhode Island Independence Act was signed in May 1776; the State House (1895), built out of white marble with a marble dome, which is the fourth largest in the world (72 m/235 ft high); Brown University (1764; originally Rhode Island College, Warren, Rhode Island), which moved to Providence in 1770; and the Rhode Island School of Design (1877), one of the leading fine-arts colleges in the USA, which houses the Charles Pendelton collection of 18th-century US furniture and decorative arts. Religious foundations of the 19th century include the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John (1801) and the First Unitarian Church (1816), which contains a bell cast by Paul Revere. To the south, Roger Williams Park and the Roger Williams National Memorial commemorate the city's founder. The city is also home to the Culinary Archives and Museum, Providence Children's Museum, and the Museum of Rhode Island History.

providence

The religious belief that all events are guided and foreseen by God for a purpose. The idea is found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Of course, if God controls directly every event (universal providence), there is no room for human responsibility, and the concept of free will does not exist. Miracles are a specific example of divine providence.

Much traditional Christian theological writing describes the workings of divine providence. Religious writers from Aquinas to the 20th century have attempted to reconcile these two principles; Aquinas by distinguishing a divine ‘first cause’ from a natural ‘second cause’, while modern process theologians interpret God's influence as long-term and persuasive, while allowing short-term human freedom. In contrast, Deists believe in the existence of God, but not that such a being guides his creation in any way.