Providence is the capital and the most populous city in Rhode Island,
and one of the first cities established in the United States. Located
in Providence County, it is the estimated third largest city in the New
England region. Despite the city proper only having an estimated
population of 178,042 as of 2010, it anchors the 37th largest
metropolitan population in the country. With an estimated MSA
population of 1,600,856, it exceeds that of Rhode Island itself by
about 60% due to its reaching into southern Massachusetts. Situated at
the mouth of the Providence River, at the head of Narragansett Bay, the
city's small footprint is crisscrossed by seemingly erratic streets and
contains a rapidly changing demographic. Providence was founded in 1636
by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence", which he
believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his
followers to settle. One of the first American cities to industrialize,
Providence became noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today,
the city's economy has shifted into the service industries, though it
still retains significant manufacturing activity.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence%2C_Rhode_Island>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1628:
The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document that set
out specific liberties of the subject, was granted the Royal Assent by
Charles I .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right>
1892:
Homer Plessy, an "octoroon" from New Orleans, Louisiana, was arrested
for refusing to leave the "whites-only" car on a train.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Plessy>
1917:
World War I: The British Army detonated 19 ammonal mines under the
German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest non-nuclear man-made
explosion in history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines>
1981:
The Israeli Air Force attacked and disabled the Osirak nuclear reactor,
assuming it was producing plutonium to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons
program.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera>
2006:
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed when
the United States Air Force bombed his safehouse near Baqubah.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Musab_al-Zarqawi>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
circumforaneous (adj):
Wandering from place to place; vagrant, vagabond
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circumforaneous>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Art hurts. Art urges voyages — and it is easier to stay at home.
--Gwendolyn Brooks
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks>