Living on Borrowed Land Trivia Quiz

The Tower of the Arabs, a luxury hotel which is one of the tallest hotels in the world, is built on an artificial island, about 300 metres from the mainland, to which it is connected by a bridge. Creation of the island started with driving concrete piles into the sand, then surrounding them with rocks to prevent erosion. Construction of the island took over three years, slightly longer than was required for the actual hotel.

The profile of the hotel, which is designed to look like a billowing sail, makes it instantly recognisable in photos.

There is a helipad near the roof, which has been the site of a number of publicity events: Tiger Woods hitting a golf ball over the edge in 2004, a tennis match between Andre Agassi and Roger Federer in 2005, David Coulthard driving a Formula One racecar around it in 2013, and Nick Jacobsen kiteboards from the helipad to the sea in 2017 are only a few.

In the 16th century the Portuguese established a colony on seven separate islands off the western coast of India: Isle of Bombay, Colaba, Little Colaba, Mahim, Mazagaon, Parel and Worli, collectively called the Ilhas de Bom Baim. They were still separate when handed over to the English as part of the dowry that Catherine Braganza brought to her 1661 marriage to Charles II.

In 1668 they were leased to the East India Company, and serious work to fill in the gaps to create a single large island commenced. By 1846 they had been merged, mostly by flattening the hills on the individual islands, and dumping the material into the water. Following later consolidation with the islands of Trombay and Salsette, they now form the southern part of the city of Mumbai.

The islands of Taipa and Coloane in Macau used to be separated by Seac Pai Bay, until a project completed in the early years of the 21st century added a five square kilometre land connection, making them into the single island of Cotai. This was done to provide an area for more casinos and hotels - the city of Macau is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, and there was little room for expansion.

The Cotai strip is now a hotspot for gambling tourism.

The international airport located 20 km south of Nagoya is called Centrair, short for Central Japan International Airport. It is the main international airport serving the central part of Japan. There was felt to be a need for a new airport at the start of the 21st century, to cope with all the travel (cargo and passenger) in the area, so an artificial island was constructed.

The project was controversial not for the product, but for the process - many allegations of racketeering were made, but the criminal proceedings were dropped.

The new airport opened in 2005, taking over the three-letter airport code for Nagoya, although the original airport continued to operate with domestic flights.

The region at the western end of Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, was originally an area called Batman's Marsh. Setting up a railway terminus in the 1850s was accomplished by taking earth from nearby Batman's Hill (the man certainly left his stamp on the town he established!).

As the railway grew, reclamation continued. By 1900 the area was the city's main port area. During the 20th century both the docks and the railway became less important as transport changed, and by the end of the century it was decided to undertake major renovation - hence the development of the Docklands area, which is now a significant residential area as well as featuring a major stadium used for professional football and cricket (and concerts).

The Uru people living near Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia took an innovative approach to defence against hostile attack - they built reed islands on which they could build their dwellings as they floated on the lake. The residential islands vary in size, from a small one holding a few families to larger ones with up to twenty separate structures. Of course, the reeds have a limited lifetime, so the islands are pretty well continuously under construction! A major source of income for the island dwellers is the tourists who visit from the mainland town of Puno, Peru.

The beachfront of the Flamengo district in Rio de Janeiro is dominated by this park, built on about a square kilometre of land reclaimed from Guanabara Bay. The park, opened in 1965, was built by Lota de Macedo Soares, and is the largest public recreation area in the city.

As well as gardens (designed by Roberto Burle Marx) and recreation spaces, it contains several museums, and is part of the competitive route for the Rio de Janeiro UCI bicycle race.

In 1965, rock excavated for the Montreal Metro was used to build an island in the Saint Lawrence River for use in Expo 67, a celebration of Canada's centennial. Notre Dame Island and nearby Saint Helen's Island form Parc Jean-Drapeau, named after the Montreal mayor who was the driving force of Expo 67. Notre Dame Island currently is the site of the Montreal Casino and Montreal's Formula One car racing circuit, named after Gilles Villeneuve, the hometown hero who won the first race held there in 1978.

Tucked in a small spot on the Mediterranean coast, Monaco has not got a lot of room for growth, so it made sense to do some land building. Reclamation started in 1966, and the official cornerstone laying for construction of the new district came in 1981.

Despite the need for space, almost a third of the area of Fontvieille is parkland, including the Princess Grace Rose Garden. Extension of this southernmost part of Monaco continues in the 21st century.

The second-largest functioning mosque in Africa is located partly on a promontory and partly on a platform over the ocean. Following destruction of the Orthlieb Pool, formerly considered the world's largest swimming pool, the area was filled in and used for the land-based portion of the mosque constructed between 1986 and 1993 at the instruction of King Hassan II.

As well as holding around 25,000 worshippers inside, the exterior has room for another 80,000 participants in ceremonies. The mosque's minaret, one of the tallest in the world, has a laser light at its top which points to Mecca.