The recent list is an Opus-wide list of your most recently used folders, displayed by default in the Back button's right-click menu. The options here let you control how many folders are saved in this list:
The history list is similar to the recent list except it's per-tab, not global. It's the list of folders you move through when you click the Back and Forward buttons.
The option at the bottom of the page lets you configure the maximum size of the history list.