South County, Rhode Island

Washington County, Rhode Island
Former Washington County Courthouse in West Kingston
Location in the U.S. state of Rhode Island
Rhode Island's location in the U.S.
Founded	June 3, 1729
Seat	South Kingstown
Largest town	South Kingstown
Area
• Total	563 sq mi (1,458 km2)
• Land	329 sq mi (852 km2)
• Water	234 sq mi (606 km2), 41%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	126,517
• Density	386/sq mi (149/km²)
Congressional district	2nd
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4

Washington County, known locally as South County, is a county located in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 126,979.Rhode Island counties have no governmental functions other than as court administrative and sheriff corrections boundaries, which are part of the state government.

Washington County is included in the Providence metropolitan area, which encompasses most of Rhode Island and several counties in Massachusetts.

Washington County was created as Kings County in 1729 within the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It was renamed Washington County on October 29, 1781 in honor of George Washington.

At the earliest stage of colonial settlement, the area was called "The Narragansett Country", named after the Algonquin tribe and its tributary tribe the (Eastern) Niantics, both of whom lived in the area. (The Algonquin Nipmucs may have lived in the westernmost part of the town of Hopkinton.)

Early land purchases in the Narragansett Country were effected by English settlers after the establishment of Indian trading posts at Fort Neck, today's town of Charlestown, and at "Smith's Castle", Cocumcussoc, now Wickford. A series of conflicts involving the Manisseans on Block Island gave that island to the Massachusetts Bay Colony for a number of years, before being transferred to the Rhode Island Colony under Newport County, and then finally to Washington County in 1959.