Bash is really rather magical. For instance, I don't use history - I don't know it, and I really don't need it. Rather:

* Ctrl + R: Reverse search in the bash history. This is a must-have tool!
* Ctrl + L: Clear terminal.
* CtrL + D: Normal logout. Faster than typing exit.
* Tab completion can be activated for most things, such as ssh, man pages and apt-get (if you use that). Just look at /etc/bash.bashrc.