The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held in 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been twenty World Scout Jamborees, hosted in various countries. There is usually about 4/5 years between World Scout Jamboree events.

Jamboree

In Scouting, a jamboree is a large gathering of Scouts who rally at a national or international level.

There are also national and continental jamborees held around the world with varying frequency. Many of these events will invite and attract Scouts from overseas.

The last Scout Jamboree, hosted in swenden in 2007, and the next will be in japan from July 28 to August 8, 2015

The etymology of this term has several possible origins, ranging from Hindi to Swahili to Native American

Baden-Powell chose the name as rally, meeting and gathering did not fully capture the spirit of this then-new concept. The name is thought to be derived from the swahili for hello, Jambo, as a result of the considerable amount of time he spent in the region. At the first World Jamboree at Olympia in 1920, Lord Baden-Powell said "People give different meanings for this word, but from this year on, Jamboree will take a specific meaning. It will be associated to the largest gathering of youth that ever took place."

Olave, Lady Baden-Powell, coined the term Jamborese to refer to the lingua franca used between Scouts of different languages and cultural habits, that develops when diverse Scouts meet, that fosters friendship and understanding between Scouts of the world. Sometimes the word Jamborette is used to denote smaller, either local or international, gatherings.

The term 'Jamboree' is also commonly used by the Australian Aboriginal Pitjanjarra tribe meaning 'Feast of tree grubs'. 

International jamborees

• World Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from all over the world.
• World Deaf Scout Jamboree, a gathering of deaf Scouts from all over the world.
• World Scout Jamboree on the Air (JOTA)
• World Scout Jamboree on the Internet (JOTI)
• Jamboree on the Trail (JOTT) is an international day of hiking.
• Pan-American Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from America
• European Scout Jamboree, a gathering of Scouts from all over Europe