The World Islands (Arabic: جزر العالم; Juzur al-Ālam) are an archipelago of small artificial islands constructed in the shape of a world map, located in the waters of 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 Dubai. The World's developer is Nakheel Properties, and the project was originally conceived by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. The construction was done by two Dutch (joint venture) specialist companies, Van Oord and Boskalis. The same companies also created the Palm Jumeirah. Construction of the 300 islands began in 2003, before being halted due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Though 60% of the islands were sold to private contractors in 2008, development on most of the islands has not started. As of July 2012, Lebanon Island was developed 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. The Wild Project Islands in the project range from in area. Distances between islands average ; they are constructed from of sand and 386 million tons of rock. Designed by Creative Kingdom Dubai, the development is an area that covers and is surrounded by an oval-shaped breakwater island. Roughly of shoreline was created. The World's overall development costs were estimated at $13 billion CAD in 2005. The archipelago consists of seven sets of islands, representing the continents of Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica, and Oceania. Each artificial island is named for its representative country, landmark, or region such as the France, California, Mount Everest, Australia, New Mexico, Upernavik, Buenos Aires, New York, Mexico, St. Petersburg and India. History The project was unveiled in May 2003 by Sheikh Mohammed and dredging began four months later in September 2003. By January 2008, 60% of the islands were sold, 20 of which were bought in the first four months of 2007.