With the land, plants and animals already in place, the scene was set for the arrival of the people.
Our epic journey concludes with the story of the successive waves of people who have settled here since c. 10,000 years ago, when the first intrepid adventurers of whom we have evidence set up home.
With the help of CGI, we'll go back in time to reconstruct the settlements that people built here from prehistoric times onwards.
Our presenter will enter the different worlds of our ancestors to experience the warmth of a Stone Age fire, share the corridors of monasteries with early Christian monks, and encounter the Plantation dream sold to 17th century English planters.
This is the third and final layer of the blueprint, focusing on the story of ourselves and our interaction with the landscape through to today.
Repeated on BBC2 NI Wednesday 16th April at 7.00pm and again on BBC2 NI Sunday 20th April at 5.30pm
From Strangford Lough to Waring Street in Belfast city centre, Caroline Nolan looks at the places where we as a people made our mark as we developed from those first settlers 10,000 years ago right up until the present day.