When did magic first start?

Answer 1

"In the early 1600's in Boston, MA, there were witchcraft trials." -Previous answer. This however, can not be considered the "start" of magic. What is known as "magic" has been around since the dawn of time, often used to explain the "unexplainable." For example, ancient humans may not have been able to describe why the wind blew, or how the tides in the ocean propelled ships in a certain direction. Many of these "unexplainable" events where deemed as being controlled by god(s). Those who understood the "will of the god(s)" or who had a higher knowledge of nature, or those who appeared to be able to control nature came to be priests/holymen(women)/medicine men(women), or in ancient Persia, magosh.

The term "magic" is etymologically derived from the Greek word magika. Greeks and Persians had been at war for centuries and the Persian priests, called magosh in Persian, came to be known as magoi in Greek; that which a Persian priest did come to be known as mageia and then magika, a term which eventually referred to any foreign, unorthodox or illegitimate ritual practice.

~Wikipedia

The beginning of "stage magic" has never been able to be pinned down, though it is said to have started much later than "priest-craft" (above) or the other forms of "true magic." There are many records from the ancient civilizations that speak of "magicians, tricksters, and illusionists," though stage magic must have started even before these records came to being. There has never been a specific event for either "forms" that can be pinned as the start. There was a brief hiatus of the use of "magic" during the witchcraft trials of the dark/middle ages and into the Renaissance and colonial period (for obvious reasons).