The Narragansett tribe are an Algonquian Native American tribe from Rhode Island.

Indigenous peoples lived in the New England area for thousands of years.

Gradually the Narragansett and other historic tribes arose as descendants of earlier cultures.

Historically the Narragansett were one of the leading tribes of New England, controlling the west of Narragansett Bay in present-day Rhode Island, and also portions of Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts, from the Providence River on the northeast to Pawcatuck River on the southwest.

The Narragansett culture has existed in the region for centuries.

They had extensive trade relations across the region.

The first European contact was in 1524, when the explorer Giovanni de Verrazano visited Narragansett Bay.In 1983 they regained federal recognition as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.

In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against their request that the Department of Interior take land into trust which they had acquired in 1991.

The ruling prohibited tribes that achieved federal recognition after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act to have newly acquired lands taken into trust and removed from state control.