I realize that many people say that Athens is where democracy started, but is there any solid proof that it was the first? On Wikipedia, it is stated that:
there is evidence to suggest that democratic forms of government, in a broad sense, may have existed in several areas of the world well before the turn of the 5th century.
What would this include? Any specific examples and evidence? If not, then probably just answer so.
Democracy is usually understood as a system where decisions are taken by the method of voting among the citizens.
This means that essentially democracy shares its origins with the method of voting.
Historians know that tribe councils were popular among most ancient cultures, including Mycenean Greeks and ancient Germanic tribes.
Even more, arguably it was the most ancient form of government because authoritarian rule and compulsion require sufficient inequality in means and resources which became only possible with advent of neolithic.
Even more, if you look at an animal herd, you will see that the leader is usually chosen by "voting": the herd votes whom to follow with their legs.
The direction of movement is even chosen by voting among fish and even more primitive animals.
It is thus possible that "democracy" at least predates chordates.
I'll differ with Anixx here. There's no evidence that democracy was the "most ancient" form of government. Anything about that is pure speculation.
The origins of democracy are almost definitely in the council of kings. The Senate of the Roman Republic, for example, started out as a council of elders convened to advise the king. Elites in any situation have the motivation and the power to gain some say in the government by demand or by bargaining. The more elites, the larger the representativeness of the government.
The oldest known government that included a significant portion of its population was the Spartan government around the 700s BC. About 3% of the population could vote, where the winning choice was picked by which choice was shouted at the loudest. This can be said to be the first instance of range voting. The workings of the Spartan government were apparently kept reasonably secret and what's known of the Spartan system is largely known through the writings of outsiders, who would have obviously biased viewpoints.
Athens is the next oldest state to have a significantly representative government, allowing 10-20% of the population to vote.
I wrote a whole post on ancient democracies here: https://governology.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/government-behind-us/
In his lectures on iTunesU (link), Steven B. Smith reports that Aristotle wrote about many different systems of government that predated the Athenians.
There were in ancient India "republics", for example, this one. I am not an expert on them, so I can't vouch for how democratic compared to the Greek polis they were; however, in some measure they do fit the bill.
As far as I know, the answer is no. There were, for example, no other democracies in the Ancient Greek world, except for Athens. The vast majority of Ancient Greek states/regions, were governed by Tyrants, Monarchs or Oligarchs. Citizenship appears to have been a uniquely Athenian invention and a foreign concept to the vast majority of the Ancient Greek world-(both in Greece proper, as well as "Greater Greece" and "Anatolia"). Of course Athenian democracy, was far from perfect. Women could not vote, foreign residents had no hope of becoming citizens, slavery was widespread within Athens proper and in terms of numbers, citizens were in the minority of Athenian society though they wielded a great deal of power and influence. Few Athenians had the opportunity to join and speak within the Pnyx-(or Ancient Athenian Parliament).
The one figure who devoted a great deal of analysis to this question was Aristotle in his famed work, "The Politics". Aristotle analyzed the nature of various forms of government, including, Democracy-(or "Polity"). He discussed the Athenian Constitution and from what I remember, he also talked about the Carthaginian polity.
Carthage, was a great maritime empire that was located in the heart of North Africa and had dominated a sizable part of the Mediterranean sea region for centuries-(even during the period of Greek Mediterranean exploration and settlement, commonly known as, "Magna Grecia"). The Carthaginian empire had been the major imperial force within the Mediterranean region centuries before the Roman Empire. And while we tend to view Carthage as a major seafaring imperial power, according to Aristotle, the Carthaginians had their own unique version of a polity.
I don't have the exact chronology of Carthage's polity, though I know that Aristotle lived from 384 BC/BCE-322 BC/BCE and probably authored or lectured on "The Politics" during his years at The Athenian Lyceum-(around the 340's-320's BC/BCE). Most likely, the Carthaginian polity that he discussed, probably existed concurrently with Athens. Did the Carthaginian polity predate Pericles or Solon? I don't have the answer, though as I said before, it probably was contemporaneous with Athens.
I must admit that I am unaware of any "republics" in Ancient India. I was under the impression that most Indian states, in Ancient times, were ruled by Monarchs, though I would be interested in hearing more about Indian "republics" in Antiquity.
