Want to change .bash_history count

I've looked all over for this but can't find it. The .bash_history seems to default to 500, I'd like to jack this up to 2000 or 3000 - how do I do this? What are the ramifications of doing this? Thank you. -- (o< //\ Powered by SuSE Linux V_/_ Virusproof. Crashproof. 11:21am up 24 days, 18:17, 27 users, load average: 1.02, 1.34, 1.57 processes 2198374