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Providence is the capital of, 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. (more...)

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June 7: Shavuot begins at sunset (Judaism, 2011); Sette Giugno in Malta; Journalist Day in Argentina

• 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 (pictured).
• 1892 – Homer Plessy, an "octoroon" from New Orleans, Louisiana, was arrested for refusing to leave the "whites-only" car on a train.
• 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.
• 1981 – The Israeli Air Force attacked and disabled the Osirak nuclear reactor, assuming it was producing plutonium to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons program.
• 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.

More anniversaries: June 6 – June 7 – June 8