Top 20 Unbelievable Man-Made Islands

In modern times artificial islands are usually formed by land reclamation, but some are formed by the incidental isolation of an existing piece of land during canal construction (e.g. Donauinsel and Ko Kret), or flooding of valleys resulting in the tops of former knolls getting isolated by water (e.g. Barro Colorado Island). The largest artificial island, René-Levasseur Island, was formed by flooding of two adjacent reservoirs.

1) The Thums

The Thums Islands or Astronaut Islands are a set of four artificial islands in San Pedro Bay off the coast of Long Beach, California. They were built in 1965 to tap into the East Wilmington Oil Field. The landscaping and sound walls were designed to camouflage the operation and reduce noise, and they are the only decorated oil islands in the United States.

2) The Pearl Quatar

The Pearl-Qatar in Doha, Qatar, is an artificial island spanning nearly four million square metres. It is the first land in Qatar to be available for freehold ownership by foreign nationals. As of January 2015, there are 12,000 residents.

Once fully completed, The Pearl will create over 32 kilometres of new coastline, for use as a residential estate with an expected 18,831 dwellings and 45,000 residents by 2018. Developed by United Development Company and planned by architecture and design firm Callison, the island is located 350 metres offshore of Doha's West Bay Lagoon area.

3) Willington Island

Willingdon Islands is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Lake of Kochi, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island.

Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi, as well as the Kochi Naval Base (the Southern Naval Command) of the Indian Navy and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

4) Mexcaltitan Island

Mexcaltitán de Uribe, also known simply as Mexcaltitán, is a small man-made island-city off the coast in the municipality of Santiago Ixcuintla in the Mexican state of Nayarit. Its name derives from two náhuatl words, "mexcalli" and "titlán".

Legend has it that it was the Aztlan of the Aztecs, their home city and birthplace from where they set out on their pilgrimage in 1091 that led them to the founding of Tenochtitlan.

5) Balboa Island

Balboa Island is a community located in Newport Beach, California, accessible to the public via bridge, ferry and several public docks.

The community is surrounded by a paved concrete boardwalk open to pedestrian traffic, designated as a public walking trail by the city.

6) Thilafushi Island

Thilafushi is an artificial island created as a municipal landfill situated to the west of Malé, and is located between Kaafu Atoll's Giraavaru and Gulhifalhu of the Maldives.

Thilafushi originally was a lagoon called "Thilafalhu" with a length of 7 km and a width of 200 metres at the shallowest regions. It came into existence following a series of discussions and efforts to resolve Malé's garbage predicament during the early 1990s.

7) Kamfers Dam Island

Kamfers Dam is a privately owned permanent water body of 400 hectare, situated to the immediate north of Kimberley, South Africa. The wetland was originally an ephemeral pan, often dry and dependent on rain water.

In recent times, its water level rose as it received constant runoff and treated water from the growing city of Kimberley.

8) Peberholm

Peberholm, is a small artificial island in the Danish part of the Øresund strait, created as part of the Øresund Bridge connecting Denmark with Sweden. Peberholm is close to the small natural island of Saltholm (Salt Islet), and was named to complement it. The Island’s Area is 325 acres.

9) Durrat Al Bahrain

Durrat Al Bahrain is the third largest artificial island in Bahrain after Northern City and Diyar Al Muharraq Islands. It has a distance of 40.5 km south of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain Island.

Durrat Al Bahrain islands include five-star hotels, an 18-hole golf course, 12 bridges, and a marina. The marina will span three of the islands and will cover a land area of approximately 0.7 km2 (7,500,000 sq ft) with a cost of about US $1.3 billion.

10) Amwaj Islands

Amwaj Islands are a group of man-made islands located in the Persian Gulf to the northeast of Bahrain, near the coast of Muharraq island. It has a distance of 10.5 km northeast of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain Island. Amwaj Islands have an area of 4.31 km².

The Amwaj Islands were reclaimed from the relatively shallow seas to the northeast of Muharraq Island, which is the northernmost island in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

11) Flevopolder Island

The Flevopolder is a polder, or region of reclaimed land, in Flevoland, Netherlands. The eastern part was drained in 1955 and the southern part in 1968.

Unlike other major polders such as Noordoostpolder and the Wieringermeer, the Flevopolder is completely surrounded by bordering lakes, the Veluwemeer, Ketelmeer, and Gooimeer.

Therefore, it can be considered as a large island; it is the largest artificial island reclaimed on water in the world.

12) No Man's Land Island Fort

Built in the late 1800s to protect the English coast against a French invasion, No Man's Land could accommodate 80 soldiers and 49 cannons. Shortly after construction, however, it became apparent that the French had no interest in attacking England.

The fort sat idle for decades until the Ministry of Defence decommissioned it during the 1950s. They tried to sell the artificial island in 1963, but no buyers came forward.

Three decades later the abandoned fort was transformed into a luxury hotel, complete with two helipads, 21 bedrooms, a roof garden, restaurant and a heated pool. Despite its creature comforts and promise of privacy, the remote hotel never took off.

13) Orsos Floating Island Yacht

An Austrian company has recently gone all luxury platter and combined an island and a yacht into a $6.5 million floating island yacht. Seriously, they did it.

Totally self-sufficient, the island is powered by solar panels and wind generators, and has a desalination system which can convert 3,170 gallons of seawater into drinking water.

14) Spiral Island

Spiral Island is the name of a floating artificial island built in Mexico by British artist Richart "Reishee" Sowa. It was destroyed by Hurricane Emily in 2005; a replacement, Joyxee Island, has been open for tours since 2008.

15) Umihotaru Island

The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, also known as the Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway, is a bridge–tunnel combination across Tokyo Bay in Japan.

At the bridge–tunnel crossover point, there is an artificial island called Umihotaru (Umi-hotaru, literally meaning "sea firefly") with a rest area consisting of restaurants, shops and amusement facilities. Air is supplied to the tunnel by a distinctive tower in the middle of the tunnel, called the Kaze no Tō, which uses the bay's almost-constant winds as a power source.

16) Uros Floating Island

The islands of Uros, Peru, are made from reed growing along the edges of Lake Titicaca, Puno, by bundling these reeds into floating island platforms. Each of these artificial islands have 2-10 reed houses, depending on the size. The biggest island has a watchtower. But, tourists are affecting the traditional culture of the Uros people. Environmental and health issues are also on the rise, here.

17) Khazar Island

The Khazar Islands, also known as Caspian Islands, is a planned development of artificial islands 25 km south of Baku, Azerbaijan consisting of 41 islands extending 3,000 hectares (30 km2; 7,400 acres; 12 sq mi) over the Caspian Sea.

18) Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland is an internationally famous theme park in Japan, set on a man-made island in Urayasu, Chiba. The Tokyo Disney Resort is one of the greatest tourist spots, and it is the first Disney park built outside the United States, and it celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008. The island resort has five hotels within walking distance from the themed areas, as well as four Japanese airports.

19) Palm Island

Palm Islands are three artificial islands, Palm Jumeirah, Deira Island and Palm Jebel Ali, on the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Creation of the islands started in 2001. As of November 2011, only Palm Jumeirah has been completed.

This island takes the form of a palm tree, topped by a crescent. After completion, Palm Jebel Ali will take a similar shape. Like Palm Jumeirah, each island will be host to a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers and will add a total of 520 kilometers of non-public beaches to the city of Dubai.

20) The World Island

The World or The World Islands is an artificial archipelago of various small islands constructed in the rough shape of a world map, located in the waters of the Persian Gulf, 4.0 kilometres off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The World islands are composed mainly of sand dredged from Dubai's shallow coastal waters, and are one of several artificial island developments in Dubai.