Model United Nations - History

History

Model and civic simulation education are older than the United Nations. Records indicate that as early as the 1920s students in the United States of America were participating in collegiate simulations of the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations. The modern day National Model United Nations in New York City and Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) both began as simulations of the League of Nations in the 1920s. Though Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN), having been founded in 1955, often claims to be the world's oldest continuous College Model UN conference, the oldest continuous Collegiate Model UN conference is actually Model United Nations of the Far West, running annually since April 1951. The world's oldest continuous High School Model UN conferences are the Indianapolis Model United Nations and the Berkeley Model United Nations, both founded in 1952. The National Model United Nations is one of the world's largest conferences with over 5,000 participants and is most unique with a part of the conference held at the United Nations in New York City. While National Model UN hosts opening ceremonies at the UN, UNA-USA is the only organization to host actual sessions in UN committee rooms. UNA-USA As the League of Nations was dismantled and the United Nations was born in 1945, simulations of the League of Nations were transformed into Model United Nations. Some conferences still perform historical simulations, however, including League of Nations crisis situations. These simulations now have grown to over 3000 and 2000 annual participants. The largest conference to date is THIMUN, attracting over 4,200 participants each year.