italian explorer giovanni da verrazano may be responsible for the mix-up. arriving in 1524, one of the harbor islands supposedly reminded him of the greek island of rhodes. other's say the name originated with dutch explorer adriaen block. the story goes that he was amazed by the red clay in the soil so he called the area "red island," or as the dutch would say, "roodt eylandt." he also named one of the islands "block island" in honor of himself. >> rhode island is known as little rhody. it's approximately 1,200 square miles, and rhode island was h ofted when roger williams left religious freedom. he had hope that he would find the religious freedom that had led him to come to the new world. >> williams succeeded in establishing a settlement in 1631. thankful for his good fortune, he named it providence. today, providence is the capital of rhode island and "hope" is the state motto. >> so the flag includes "hope," this golden anchor, which is a reference to the coastline of rhode island, and also 13 stars to represent the 13 states -- the original states. >