Unveiled in May 2003, The World is an artificial archipelago off Dubai of 300 islands shaped like a map of the globe, spanning roughly 6 by 9 kilometers and adding 232 kilometers of shoreline at a cost of about 13 billion Canadian dollars. Dredging began four months later under Dutch firms Van Oord and Boskalis, the builders of Palm Jumeirah, using 321 million cubic meters of sand and 386 million tons of rock. Vibro-compaction probes shook the sand into a stable foundation, and an oval rock breakwater absorbs the Gulf’s wave energy. Islands between 1.4 and 4.2 hectares, named for places like France, California, St. Petersburg, and Upernavik in Greenland, sit about 100 meters apart.

By January 2008 the breakwater was finished and 60 percent of the islands were sold, but the financial crisis sent Dubai property prices down 58 percent and by 2012 only Lebanon Island had a show home. Developer Nakheel denied reports of erosion, while Penguin Marine, a transport contractor trying to escape a 1.6 million dollar annual fee, claimed silting in the channels. Buyers had planned an Irish resort with a replica Giant’s Causeway and fashion-themed resorts on Finland and Brunei. A 2013 settlement with the Kleindienst Group revived the Heart of Europe, with euro-only shops and a street that rains when it tops 27 degrees Celsius, yet as of May 2025 no underwater power cables had been laid.

• How the breakwater that protects the islands also blocks the tidal flow that would flush sand from the channels
• Richard Branson’s 2006 appearance on Great Britain island, which was really a Virgin Atlantic route announcement
• Safi Qurashi’s 64 million dollar island, a seven year sentence for bounced checks, and his release on appeal in July 2012
• Dubai residential prices rising nearly 18 percent between 2012 and 2013 and the Anantara and Cote d’Azur Monaco hotels opening in 2022
• Resorts running on diesel generators and barging their waste back to the mainland