diff --git a/Doc/using/cmdline.rst b/Doc/using/cmdline.rst
index 08dc311d837be9..cc2b3787ab566a 100644
--- a/Doc/using/cmdline.rst
+++ b/Doc/using/cmdline.rst
@@ -713,6 +713,13 @@ conflict.
 
    .. versionadded:: 3.6
 
+.. envvar:: PYTHONHISTORY
+
+   If set to a non-empty string, you can change the location of a python_history
+   file, by default it will be in ~/.python_history.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.7
+
 Debug-mode variables
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/Lib/site.py b/Lib/site.py
index 4f96ca91170c54..6ca3676910a3be 100644
--- a/Lib/site.py
+++ b/Lib/site.py
@@ -372,6 +372,17 @@ def setcopyright():
 def sethelper():
     builtins.help = _sitebuiltins._Helper()
 
+def gethistoryfile():
+    """Check if PYTHONHISTORY environment variable
+     is set and define it as python_history file,
+     if not use the default ~/.python_history file.
+     """
+    h = os.environ.get("PYTHONHISTORY")
+    if h != '':
+        return h
+    return os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'),
+        '.python_history')
+
 def enablerlcompleter():
     """Enable default readline configuration on interactive prompts, by
     registering a sys.__interactivehook__.
@@ -407,13 +418,9 @@ def register_readline():
             pass
 
         if readline.get_current_history_length() == 0:
-            # If no history was loaded, default to .python_history.
-            # The guard is necessary to avoid doubling history size at
-            # each interpreter exit when readline was already configured
-            # through a PYTHONSTARTUP hook, see:
-            # http://bugs.python.org/issue5845#msg198636
-            history = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser('~'),
-                                   '.python_history')
+            # If no history was loaded, default to .python_history,
+            # or PYTHONHISTORY.
+            history = gethistoryfile()
             try:
                 readline.read_history_file(history)
             except IOError:
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_site.py b/Lib/test/test_site.py
index 342ec9e43d5de3..d535cf9815b0c3 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_site.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_site.py
@@ -259,6 +259,10 @@ def test_getsitepackages(self):
             wanted = os.path.join('xoxo', 'lib', 'site-packages')
             self.assertEqual(dirs[1], wanted)
 
+    def test_gethistoryfile(self):
+        os.environ['PYTHONHISTORY'] = "xoxo"
+        self.assertEqual(site.gethistoryfile(), "xoxo")
+
 class PthFile(object):
     """Helper class for handling testing of .pth files"""
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 2f7bd7ac7b20d4..3576be53b61d25 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ What's New in Python 3.7.0 alpha 1?
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- bpo-29779: New environment variable PYTHONHISTORY if
+  this is set you can change the location of a python_history file.
+
 - bpo-28856: Fix an oversight that %b format for bytes should support objects
   follow the buffer protocol.
 
diff --git a/Misc/python.man b/Misc/python.man
index 385b6546c8a52b..8c5f781556b6d6 100644
--- a/Misc/python.man
+++ b/Misc/python.man
@@ -431,6 +431,10 @@ values.
 
 The integer must be a decimal number in the range [0,4294967295].  Specifying
 the value 0 will disable hash randomization.
+.IP PYTHONHISTORY
+If this is set you can change the location of a
+python_history file, by default it will be ~/.python_history.
+
 .SH AUTHOR
 The Python Software Foundation: https://www.python.org/psf/
 .SH INTERNET RESOURCES
diff --git a/Modules/main.c b/Modules/main.c
index 42fe2a012ad800..1e1931cbae5adc 100644
--- a/Modules/main.c
+++ b/Modules/main.c
@@ -105,7 +105,8 @@ static const char usage_6[] =
 "   predictable seed.\n"
 "PYTHONMALLOC: set the Python memory allocators and/or install debug hooks\n"
 "   on Python memory allocators. Use PYTHONMALLOC=debug to install debug\n"
-"   hooks.\n";
+"   hooks.\n"
+"PYTHONHISTORY: If this is set, you can change the location of a python_history file.\n";
 
 static int
 usage(int exitcode, const wchar_t* program)