diff --git a/bashrc b/bashrc
index 1143baf4b..bd8b91373 100644
--- a/bashrc
+++ b/bashrc
@@ -113,9 +113,31 @@ shopt -s extglob
 shopt -s checkwinsize
 
 export PAGER="less"
-export HISTIGNORE="&:pwd:ls:ll:lal:[bf]g:exit:rm*:sudo rm*"
 export EDITOR="vi"
 
+############################################################
+## History
+############################################################
+
+# When you exit a shell, the history from that session is appended to
+# ~/.bash_history.  Without this, you might very well lose the history of entire
+# sessions (weird that this is not enabled by default).
+shopt -s histappend
+
+export HISTIGNORE="&:pwd:ls:ll:lal:[bf]g:exit:rm*:sudo rm*"
+# remove duplicates from the history (when a new item is added)
+export HISTCONTROL=erasedups
+# increase the default size from only 1,000 items
+export HISTSIZE=10000
+
+# By default up/down are bound to previous-history and next-history
+# respectively. The following does the same but gives the extra functionality
+# where if you type any text (or more accurately, if there is any text between
+# the start of the line and the cursor), the subset of the history starting with
+# that text is searched.
+bind '"\e[A"':history-search-backward
+bind '"\e[B"':history-search-forward
+
 ############################################################
 ## Aliases
 ############################################################