Antillia

Antillia (or Antilia) is a phantom island that was reputed, during the 15th-century age of exploration, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, far to the west of Portugal and Spain. The island also went by the name of Isle of Seven Cities (Ilha das Sete Cidades in Portuguese, Isla de las Siete Ciudades in Spanish).

It originates from an old Iberian legend, set during the Muslim conquest of Hispania c. 714. Seeking to flee from the Muslim conquerors, seven Christian Visigothic bishops embarked with their flocks on ships and set sail westwards into the Atlantic Ocean, eventually landing on an island (Antilha) where they founded seven settlements.

The island makes its first explicit appearance as a large rectangular island in the 1424 portolan chart of Zuane Pizzigano. Thereafter, it routinely appeared in most nautical charts of the 15th century. After 1492, when the north Atlantic Ocean began to be routinely sailed, and became more accurately mapped, depictions of Antillia gradually disappeared. It nonetheless lent its name to the Spanish Antilles.

Antilia (building)

Antilia is a private home in South Mumbai. It is owned by Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and includes a staff of 600 to maintain the residence.As of November 2014, it is deemed to be the world's second most expensive residential property, after Buckingham Palace, which is designated as a governmental property. It is thus the world's most expensive private residential property.

Etymology

Antilia is named after a mythical island of the same name in the Atlantic Ocean.

Construction

Antilia was designed by Chicago-based architects Perkins and Will, with the Australian-based construction company Leighton Holdings taking charge of its construction. The home has 27 floors with extra-high ceilings. (Other buildings of equivalent height may have as many as 60 floors.) The home was also designed to survive an 8-Richter scale earthquake.

Controversies

In 2005, this property was purchased by a Mukesh Ambani-controlled entity, Muffin-Antilia Commercial Private Limited from the Currimbhoy Ebrahim Khoja Trust, in direct contravention of § 51 of the Wakf Act.