An artificial island or man -made island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure, to those that support entire communities and cities. Early artificial islands included floating structures in still waters, or wooden or megalithic structures erected in shallow waters (e.g. crannógs and Nan Madol discussed below).
In modern times artificial islands are usually formed by land reclamation, but some are formed by the incidental isolation of an existing piece of land during canal construction (e.g. Donauinsel and Ko Kret), or flooding of valleys resulting in the tops of former knolls getting isolated by water (e.g. Barro Colorado Island ). One of the world 's largest artificial island, René-Levasseur Island, was formed by flooding of two adjacent reservoirs.
