The International Committee of Historical Sciences organizes every five years a global community of historians, in collaboration with the national committee of the host country,  About two thousand historians from all over the world gather together, and present papers, and execute discussions.

  The International Congress of Historical Sciences started in 1900 before the International Committee of Historical Sciences was officially organized. Since the first congress (Paris) in 1900 and the second congress (Rome) in 1903 the international congress was organized every five years until the two World Wars interrupted its holding respectively in 1918 and 1943.

  After the end of the second World War, the International Congress of Historical Sciences should have been held in 1948, but because of the preparations could only be held in 1950. Since the Paris congress in 1950, the congress was to be held in the year ending with 0, and 5. Recent congresses are held in San Francisco (1975), Bucharest (1980), Stuttgart (1985), Madrid (1990), Montreal (1995).

  Oslo, Norway where the 1928 congress met again hosted the 19th International Congress of Historical Sciences in 2000. In the new millennium the region other than Europe and U.S.A. was scheduled for the 20th International Congress, which Sydney Australia  hosted  as the first congress ever held in a non-western hemisphere.

 The 21st Congress of the CISH took place in the heart of the city of Amsterdam. Three major themes on which the historians worked, were this year there, the fall of the Empires, the City as Culture and the connections between Religion and Power. For his XXIIth Congress which has been held in Jinan (China), the CISH insisted particularly to invite young historians to come in large numbers. They could present with profit their own researches in this international arena and participate widely in the discussions organized in more than 70 panels.