How many years back did history start ?

Answer 1

Best guess - about 5,000 years, perhaps as much as 5,500.

Raqzeus has the right idea, but his dates are wrong. He chose the dates estimated for the earliest settlements of ancient Sumer. But their written language did not come till later.

Generally, the estimated date for the invention of the cuneiform writing system is the late 4th millennium B.C., that is, somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 B.C.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sumer#Earliest_city-states
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform_%28script%29

Thus, "the span of recorded history is roughly 5 000 – 5 500 years,"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_history

I would shade toward the more recent date, since the EARLIEST decipherable Sumerian writings are more simple keeping of accounts (e.g., how many sheep the temple priests owned, etc). Only later did the Sumerian city-states begin to record "history", the dates and accomplishments of their rulers, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer#Language_and_writing

Answer 2

Every answer is wrong!
History starts from the first use of WRITTEN LANGUAGE. Before writing is called PREHISTORY!
That means that officially history starts with the Sumerians! The archaeological record shows cultural continuity from the time of the Early Ubaid period (5200-4500 BC ) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers and they were the first to use written documents!
So to answer your question is to say that traditionally history started about 7000 years ago! Before that it was prehistory!

Answer 3

History began when writing began. Before the advent of writing, important events were not recorded - no record, no history. It is widely believed that writing began about 5500 years ago in the Middle East. Since that time, historians have been able to study and analyze written documents in order to piece together what happened and what life was like in past times.

Answer 4

Well, back about a hundred years ago, when we were still hunting mammoth and saber tooth cat, someone had the idea to make progress. Of course, we hadn't made much progress up till then, so we decided that for the good of future generations, we would just make up progress.

It worked out pretty well. Coincidentally, Newton's laws that we made up enabled us to get to the moon. And, coincidentally, Maxwell's laws that we just made up enabled us to have a nationwide network of radio and TV stations. And, coincidentally, Einstein's laws, that we made up off the top of our heads, enabled us to invent nuclear power plants which provide energy without drilling for oil or having oil spills or causing air pollution.

All these things were just coincidence. None of them were the result of planning and studying what other people had already learned and building upon that. And none of them were due to good old American know how and stick-to-it-ism.

I'm sure you get the idea. Everything that we have learned since day one, including how to make fire, is valuable. Learn as much as you can. Study as much as you can. You never know when you might learn something, that, a hundred years down the road, might lead to a cure for some disease, or the betterment of the human condition.

Answer 5

Depends on what you are talking about?

Human history has been around for thousands of years.
The history of the world began millions of years ago.
American history began with the Indians (or whoever else was there) and came together with the Europeans in 1492.

Answer 6

Recorded history is thought to have begun in 450 BC. when the earliest work calling itself a history was published in ancient Greece. Prior to that time history is mostly educated guess work.

Answer 7

Man's history stems back around 6,000 years. History's starting point has no definite answer that man will even know, but based on your religious or scientific disposition, one can estimate.

Answer 8

depends on which history your talking about- Egyptian history was about 7000 years ago, Chinese and Japanese is older then that, and cave drawings are more then a few million years, combine that with the fact that most scientists agree that the earth is approximately 65million years old

Answer 9

The moment life start and human beings start reciprocating towards nature.

Answer 10

The dawn of this universe