The World (archipelago)

The World Islands (Arabic: جزر العالم, romanized: Juzur al-Ālam) are an archipelago of small artificial islands constructed in the shape of a world map, located in the Persian Gulf, 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 the emirate. The World's developer is Nakheel Properties. Construction was done by two Dutch joint-venture specialist companies, Van Oord and Boskalis, who also created the Palm Jumeirah. Construction of the 300 islands began in 2003, before being halted due to the 2008 financial crisis. Though 60% of the islands were sold to private contractors in 2008, development on most of the project had not started. As of July 2012, Lebanon Island was completed and was the only island that had so far been developed commercially, being used for private corporate events and public parties. As of late 2013, only two of the islands had been developed. In January 2014, Kleindienst Group announced the launch of "the Heart of Europe" project. By February 2014, JK Properties, one of Kleindienst Group's brands, announced that the project was "well underway". The first of these series of islands will be Europe, Sweden, and Germany, with development led by Kleindienst Group.