Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately 33 miles (53 km) southeast of Providence, 20 miles (32 km) south of Fall River, Massachusetts, 74 miles (119 km) south of Boston, and 180 miles (290 km) northeast of New York City. It is known as a New England summer resort and is famous for its historic mansions and its rich sailing history. The city has a population of about 25,000 residents.

Newport hosted the first U.S. Open tournaments in both tennis and golf, as well as every challenge for the America's Cup between 1930 and 1983. It is also the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport, which houses the United States Naval War College, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and an important Navy training center. It was a major 18th-century port city and has many buildings from the colonial era.

Newport is the county seat of Newport County, which has no governmental functions other than court administrative and sheriff corrections boundaries. It was the location of "Summer White Houses" of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy.

Newport was founded in 1639 on Rhode Island, which is now called Aquidneck Island. Its eight founders and first officers were Nicholas Easton, William Coddington, John Clarke, John Coggeshall, William Brenton, Jeremy Clark, Thomas Hazard, and Henry Bull. Many of these people were part of the settlement at Portsmouth, along with Anne Hutchinson and her followers. They separated within a year of settling Portsmouth and began the settlement of Newport on the southern side of the island.

Newport grew to be the largest of the four original settlements that became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, including Providence Plantations and Shawomett. Many of the first colonists in Newport became Baptists, and the second Baptist congregation in Rhode Island was formed in 1640 under the leadership of John Clarke.

In 1658, a group of Jews was welcomed to settle in Newport, fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal. They were not allowed to settle elsewhere. This group eventually came to be known as Congregation Jeshuat Israel, and is the second-oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. They meet in Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in America.

The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations received its royal charter in 1663. Benedict Arnold was elected as the first governor. The Old Colony House at the head of Washington Square in Newport served as the seat of Rhode Island's government from 1741 until the current Rhode Island State House was completed in Providence in 1904. At that time, Providence became the state's sole capital city.

Newport was the most important port in colonial Rhode Island, and a public school was established in 1640. The commercial activity that raised Newport to its fame as a rich port began with the immigration of a second wave of Portuguese Jews, who settled there around the middle of the 18th century. The new settlers had been practicing Judaism secretly for 300 years in Portugal, and they were attracted to Rhode Island because of its freedom of worship. They brought with them commercial experience, connections, capital, and a spirit of enterprise.