Brown University is an American private research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States and is a member of the Ivy League. It was founded in 1764 as the "College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations", early in the reign of King George III (1760–1820) and before American independence from the British Empire. It was founded by the Brown brothers, who were slave traders. Brown is the third oldest institution of higher education in New England and seventh oldest in the United States.