Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the Narragansett people inhabited most of what is now the state of Rhode Island, and were the largest of the tribes in the area.

When the Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano encountered the Narragansett in 1524, he described them as being organized into systems under kings. There were eight divisions of Narragansett, each ruled by a chief, and each of these chiefs was under a sachem, or head chief. Narragansett men were known for their skill in warfare, and the tribe offered protection to smaller tribes in the area, who paid tribute to them.

Although Europeans had visited the area for more than a century, the first European settlers arrived in Narragansett territory in 1635 and were welcomed. The Narragansett gave them permission to establish the colony that would later become Providence.

Roger Williams and his followers were exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as he had challenged the Puritan norms of the colony and advocated for religious freedom and the rights of Native Americans.

Established on the principles of religious freedom, the Rhode Island Colony soon became a sanctuary for Anabaptists, Quakers, and other non-conforming religions. Williams established the first Baptist Church in North America. He also learned the Algonquian language of the Narragansetts and edited the first dictionary of Native American languages. For a time, he enjoyed a role as peacemaker between the Narragansett and other tribes in the area

However, a white person was killed on Block Island, off the shore of southern Rhode Island, presumably by a Pequot, as tensions had been building between the Pequots and the colonists of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony initiated a retaliatory expedition against the Pequot, they strongly defended their homelands, which progressed to become the Pequot War.

The Narragansett and Mohegan tribes joined English settlers in attacking the main Pequot stronghold at what is now Mystic, Connecticut, killing or burning up to 600 Pequots. Surviving Pequots fled in groups, and many of them were killed or captured, sold into slavery, or put under the control of other tribes, including the Narragansett.

Peace between the Narragansetts and the white colonists didn't last long. In 1675, the Wampanoag and other tribes made a stand against the territorial expansions of the colonists. Known as King Philip's War, for the Wampanoag Chief Metacom (known as Philip by the English), the son of Massasoit, who had helped the Plymouth settlers survive their first winter in North America.

In December of that year, settlers attacked the Narragansetts, who had previously remained neutral in the conflict, killing about 700 Narragansett men, women, and children, in what became known as the Great Swamp Massacre.

In response to the massacre, the Narragansetts joined on the side of other Native American tribes against the Europeans, destroying a company of English soldiers along the Blackstone River, and burning Providence.

The Narragansett were defeated by April of 1676, and they abandoned their homelands, some joining other tribes, such as the Mohegan or Abenaki tribes, while others settled among the Niantic, with the combined group assuming the Narragansett name. Captured Narragansetts were sold into slavery and shipped to the Caribbean, while others were forced into indentured servitude in Rhode Island. Most of the Narragansett land was sold.

During the Great Awakening of the 1740s, white colonists founded the Narragansett Indian Church to convert Indians to Christianity. What was left of the tribe retained control and ownership of the church and the three acres it stood on. This was the only land the tribe had possession of, but this continuous ownership was important evidence of continuity when the tribe applied for federal recognition in 1983.

During the 19th century, the Narragansetts resisted state efforts to deny them recognition because of intermarriages, holding to the long tradition of the Narragansett of absorbing other ethnicities into the tribe.

While the Narragansetts had lost control of most of its tribal lands, they retained their identity. The tribe was incorporated in 1990, building a longhouse as a traditional place for ceremonies and other gatherings in 1940. In 1978, they regained 1,800 acres of land and were granted federal recognition that year as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.

In more recent years, the tribe was on the losing side of disputes with the state over the payment of state taxes on cigarette sales and its efforts to open a casino on tribal land.

Consisting of formerly enrolled members of the federally recognized tribe who were removed from the tribal rolls in 1993 and 2006, another group is seeking recognition as the Northern Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island.

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