Artificial island

Artificial Island

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Artificial island

An artificial island is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
that has been constructed by humans rather than formed by natural means.

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Encyclopedia

An artificial island is an island

Island

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a Rock , bar , or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water .Many reefs result from abiotic processes?deposition of sand, wave erosion planning down rock outcrops, and other natural processes?but the best-known reefs are the coral reefs of tropical waters developed through biotic processes do...
s, or amalgamating several natural islets into a bigger island.

Early artificial islands can be floating structures in still waters, or wood

Wood

Wood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs, etc....
en or megalith

Megalith

A megalith is a large Rock which has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic means structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement....
ic structures erected in shallow waters (e.g., crannóg

Crannog

A crann?g is an artificial island, usually originally built in lakes, rivers and estuary waters, and most often used as an island settlement or dwelling place in prehistoric or Middle Ages times....
s and Nan Madol

Nan Madol

Nan Madol is a ruined city that lies off the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei and used to be the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about AD 1500....
discussed below). In modern times artificial islands are usually formed by land reclamation

Land reclamation

Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. One involves creating new land from sea- or riverbeds, the other refers to restoring an area to a more natural state ....
, but some are formed by the incidental isolation of an existing piece of land during canal

Canal

Canals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canals: Aqueduct canals, which are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterways, which are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans....
construction (e.g. Donauinsel

Donauinsel

The Donauinsel is a long, narrow island, in central Vienna, Austria, between the Danube river and the parallel excavated channel Neue Donau ....
and Dithmarschen

Dithmarschen

Dithmarschen is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Rendsburg-Eckernf?rde, and Steinburg, by the state of Lower Saxony , and by the North Sea....
), or flooding of valleys resulting in the tops of former knolls getting isolated by water (e.g. Barro Colorado Island

Barro Colorado Island

Barro Colorado Island is located in the man-made Gatun Lake in the middle of the Panama Canal. The island was formed when the waters of the Chagres River were dammed to form Gatun Lake....
).

Some recent developments have been made more in the manner of oil platform

Oil platform

An offshore platform, often referred to as an oil platform or oil rig, is a large structure used to house workers and machinery needed to drill wells in the ocean bed, extract Petroleum and/or natural gas, process the produced fluids, and ship them to shore....
s (e.g., Sealand and Republic of Rose Island

Republic of Rose Island

The Republic of Rose Island was a short-lived micronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 km off the coast of Rimini, Italy....
).

Artificial islands may vary widely in scale, from small islets reclaimed solely for supporting a single pillar of a building or structure, to those which support entire communities.

History

Despite a popular image of modernity, artificial islands actually have a long history in many parts of the world, dating back to the crannog

Crannog

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
and Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
, the ceremonial centers of Nan Madol

Nan Madol

Nan Madol is a ruined city that lies off the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei and used to be the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about AD 1500....
in Micronesia

Federated States of Micronesia

The Federated States of Micronesia is an island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, north of Papua New Guinea. The country is a sovereign state in Associated state with the United States....
and the still extant floating island

Floating island

A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from a few inches to several feet. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world....
s of Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It sits 3,812 m above sea level making it one of the highest commercially navigable lakes in the world....
. The city of Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan

Tenochtitlan was a Nahua peoples altepetl located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, it became the seat of Aztec Empire in the 15th century, until being Fall of Tenochtitlan....
, the Aztec

Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
predecessor of Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
that was home to 250,000 people when the Spaniards arrived, stood on a small natural island in Lake Texcoco

Lake Texcoco

Lake Texcoco was a natural lake formation within the Valley of Mexico, a basin with an average elevation of 2,236m above mean sea level located in the southern highlands of Mexico's Mexican altiplano....
that was surrounded by countless artificial chinamitl
Chinampa

Chinampa is a method of Agriculture in Mesoamerica which used small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile arable land to grow agriculture on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico....
islands.

Many artificial islands have been built in urban

City

A city is an urban area with a high population density and a particular administrative, legal, or historical status.Large industrialized cities generally have advanced systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, house, and transportation and more....
harbor

Harbor

A harbor or harbour , or haven, is a place where ships may shelter from the weather or are stored. Harbors can be man-made or natural....
s to provide either a site deliberately isolated from the city or just spare real estate

Real estate

Real estate is a law term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location. otherwise unobtainable in a crowded metropolis. An example of the first case is Dejima

Dejima

, was a fan-shaped artificial island in the bay of Nagasaki, Nagasaki that was a Netherlands trading port during Japan's self-imposed isolation of the Edo period, from 1641 until 1853....
(or Deshima), built in the bay of Nagasaki in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
's Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
as a contained center for Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
an merchants

Trade

Tradeis the willing exchange of goods, Service , or both. Trade is also called commerce. A mechanism that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter , the direct exchange of goods and services....
. During the isolationist era, Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
people were generally banned from Nagasaki and Japanese from Dejima. Similarly, Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, is the location of what was from January 1, 1892, until November 12, 1954 the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States; the facility replaced the state-run Castle Clinton in Manhattan....
, in Upper New York Bay

Upper New York Bay

Upper New York Bay, sometimes called Upper New York Harbor or the Upper Bay, is the northern area of New York Harbor inside The Narrows....
beside New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, a former tiny islet greatly expanded by land reclamation, served as an isolated immigration center for the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
in the late 19th and early 20th century, preventing an escape to the city of those refused entry for disease or other perceived flaws, who might otherwise be tempted toward illegal immigration. One of the most well-known artificial islands is the Île Notre-Dame

Île Notre-Dame

?le Notre-Dame is an artificial island built in 10 months from 15 million tons of rock excavated for the Montreal Metro in 1965. It was created for Expo 67 to celebrate Canada's centennial....
in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal, or Montr?al, is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada of Quebec and the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population....
, built for Expo 67

Expo 67

The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 67 as it was commonly known, was the World's Fair held in Montreal, Canada from April 27 to October 29, 1967....
.

The Venetian Islands

Venetian Islands, Miami Beach, Florida

The Venetian Islands are a chain of artificial islands in Biscayne Bay in the cities of Miami, Florida and Miami Beach, Florida, Florida. The islands are, from west to east: Biscayne Island, Miami, Florida , San Marco Island, Miami, Florida , San Marino Island, Miami Beach, Florida , Di Lido Island, Miami Beach, Florida , Rivo Alto Isla...
in Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, Florida, United States. The city was incorporated on 26 March, 1915.Miami Beach has been one of America's pre-eminent beach resorts for almost a century....
, in Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of south Florida. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts, North Bay, Central Bay and South Bay....
added valuable new real estate during the Florida land boom of the 1920s

Florida land boom of the 1920s

The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble, which burst in 1925, leaving behind entire new cities and the remains of failed development projects such as Isola di Lolando in north Biscayne Bay....
. When the bubble that the developers were riding burst, the bay was left scarred with the remnants of their failed project. A boom town development company was building a sea wall for an island that was to be called Isola di Lolando

Isola di Lolando

A Florida land boom of the 1920s burst in the mid 1920s as a land boom fueled by outside speculators was stricken by economic realities and unexpected hurricanes....
but could not stay in business after the 1926 Miami Hurricane

1926 Miami Hurricane

The 1926 Miami Hurricane was an intense tropical cyclone that devastated Miami, Florida in September 1926. The storm also caused significant damage in the Florida Panhandle, the U.S....
and the Great Depression

Great Depression

File:International depression.pngThe Great Depression was a worldwide economic Recession starting in most places in 1929 and ending at different times in the 1930s or early 1940s for different countries....
, dooming the island-building project. The concrete pilings from the project still stand as another development boom roars around them, 80 years later.

Modern projects

In 1969, the Flevopolder in the Netherlands

Netherlands

Zuiderzee Works

The Zuiderzee Works are a human-made system of dams, land reclamation and water drainage works, and the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century....
. This island consists of the polders Eastern Flevoland and Southern Flevoland, and has a total land surface of 970 km²

Square kilometre

Square kilometre , symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI Units of measurement of surface area, the square metre, one of the SI derived units....
, which makes it the largest artificial island in the world.

Kansai International Airport

Kansai International Airport

is an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, off the shore of the cities of Sennan, Osaka and Izumisano, Osaka and the town of Tajiri, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture, Japan....
is the first airport to be built completely on an artificial island in 1994, followed by Chubu Centrair International Airport

Chubu Centrair International Airport

is an airport on an artificial island in Ise Bay, Tokoname, Aichi in Aichi Prefecture, south of Nagoya, Aichi in central Japan.Centrair is classified as a first class airport and is the main international gateway for the Chubu region region of Japan....
in 2005 and the New Kitakyushu Airport

New Kitakyushu Airport

, has been built three kilometres offshore in the Suo Nada area of the Seto Inland Sea on an artificial island in the south of Kitakyushu, Japan. It opened on March 16, 2006....
and Kobe Airport

Kobe Airport

is an airport on an artificial island just off the coast of Kobe, Japan. It primarily handles domestic flights, but can also accommodate international charter flights....
in 2006. When Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport is the main airport in Hong Kong. It is colloquially known as Chek Lap Kok Airport , because it was built on the Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong#Islands of Chek Lap Kok by land reclamation, and also to distinguish it from the old Hong Kong Airport ....
opened in 1998, 75% of the property was created using Land reclamation

Land reclamation

Chek Lap Kok

Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong, China.Chek Lap Kok was one of the two islands merged together via land reclamation techniques into to the 12.48 km? platform for the current Hong Kong International Airport....
and Lam Chau

Lam Chau

Lam Chau was one of the two original islands that made up the site of the current Hong Kong International Airport. The small island laid to the west of Chek Lap Kok and north of Lantau Island....
.

Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is one of the seven Emirates of the United Arab Emirates and the most populous city of the United Arab Emirates . It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula....
is home to some of the largest artificial island complexes in the world, including the three Palm Islands

Palm Islands

The Palm Islands are artificial islands in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on which major commercial and residential infrastructure will be constructed....
projects, The World

The World (archipelago)

The World is a man-made archipelago of 300 islands constructed in the shape of a world map and located four kilometres off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates....
and the Dubai Waterfront

Dubai Waterfront

The Dubai Waterfront is expected to become the largest waterfront and largest man-made development in the world. The project is a conglomeration of canals and artificial islands; it will occupy the last remaining Persian Gulf coastline of Dubai, the most populous emirate of the United Arab Emirates....
, the last of which will be the largest in scale.

The Israeli government is now planning for 4 artificial islands to be completed in 2013, off the coasts of Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv-Yafo , usually Tel Aviv, is the List of largest cities and second largest cities by country List of cities in Israel in Israel, with an estimated population of 390,100....
, Herzliya

Herzliya

File:Location_herzliya.pngHerzliya is a List of Israeli cities of 84,200 residents located on the Israeli coastal plain of Israel. It is part of the Tel Aviv District....
, Netanya

Netanya

Netanya is a city in the Center District of Israel and is the capital of the Sharon plain. It is located between the 'Poleg' stream and Wingate Institute in the south and the 'Avichail' stream in the north....
and Haifa

Haifa

Haifa is the largest city in North District Israel, and the List of Israeli cities in the country, with a population of over 264,900. Haifa has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs....
. Each island will house some 50,000 people and bring in 25,000 jobs. The islands should help with overcrowding in Israeli cities and they are expected to cost in the billions of dollars.

A proposal has also been presented in The Netherlands to create artificial islands, perhaps in the shape of a tulip

Tulip

Tulipa, commonly called tulip, is a genus of about 150 species of bulbous flowering plants in the family Liliaceae. The native range of the species includes southern Europe, north Africa, and Asia from Anatolia and Iran in the west to northeast of China....
, in the North Sea

North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
. There is also a plan to build modern artificial island in Sopot

Sopot

Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
which would be a marina.

Political status

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty, is the international agreement that resulted from the third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea , which took place from 1973 through 1982....
treaty (UNCLOS), artificial islands have little legal recognition. Such islands are not considered harbor works (Article 11) and are under the jurisdiction of the nearest coastal state if within 200 nautical miles (370 km) (Article 56). Artificial islands are not considered islands for purposes of having their own territorial waters or exclusive economic zones, and only the coastal state may authorize their construction (Article 60). However, on the high seas beyond national jurisdiction, any "state" may construct artificial islands (Article 87).

Some attempts to create micronation

Micronation

Micronations — sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects — are entities that resemble independent nations or states but which are unrecognized by world governments or major international organisations....
s have involved artificial islands such as Sealand and Republic of Rose Island

Republic of Rose Island

The Republic of Rose Island was a short-lived micronation on a man-made platform in the Adriatic Sea, 11 km off the coast of Rimini, Italy....
.

Artificial island

History

Modern projects

Political status

See also

External links