Warwick ( WOR-wik or WORR-ik) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, the third largest city in the acknowledge with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 census. It is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, 63 miles (101 km) southwest of Boston, Massachusetts, and 171 miles (275 km) northeast of New York City.

Warwick was founded by Samuel Gorton in 1642 and has witnessed major happenings in American history. It was decimated during King Philip’s War (1675–1676) and was the site of the Gaspee Affair, the first encounter of armed resistance next to the British, preceding even the Boston Tea Party, and a significant prelude to the American Revolution. Warwick was next the home of Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene, George Washington’s second-in-command, and Civil War General George S. Greene, a hero of the Battle of Gettysburg. Today, it is house to Rhode Island’s main airport, T. F. Green Airport, which serves the Providence area and plus functions as a reliever for Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts.

Warwick was colonized by Europeans in 1642. The city was named after a town like the thesame name located in England. Samuel Gorton claimed that Narragansett Nation Sachem Miantonomi sold him the Shawhomett Purchase for 144 fathoms of wampum. This included the towns of Coventry and West Warwick, Rhode Island. However, the transaction was dubious from the start. Sachems Sacononoco and Pumham claimed that Miantonomi had sold the land without asking for their approval. They took their battle to Boston, where they placed their lands under Massachusetts rule. In 1643, Massachusetts Bay Colony sent a militia force to Shawomett to arrest Gorton and his followers. After a disconcerted standoff, all but three of the Gortonists surrendered to the Massachusetts forces. This event caused the other three colonies upon Narragansett Bay (Providence Plantations, Portsmouth, and Newport) to unite and gain a British royal charter allowing them to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

In 1648, Gorton was established a British charter by Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, Lord Admiral and head of the Parliamentary Commission on Plantation Affairs. Because of this, the declare of the unity was misused from Shawhomett to Warwick. Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to lay affirmation to the area, but it made no supplementary effort to enforce it.