The Association Montessori Internationale was founded by Maria Montessori in 1929.

The initiative to form AMI was taken at the first International Montessori Congress, which was held as part of the Fifth Congress of the New Education Fellowship held at Kronborg Castle, Denmark.

Over eighteen hundred delegates attended the New Education Fellowship Congress where Maria Montessori gave an introductory course on the Montessori method. The event was attended by some of the early luminaries of the Montessori movement including Claude A. Claremont, Lili Roubiczek, Caroline Tromp and Rosa Joosten-Chotzen.

The delegates came from 43 countries and met in the great hall of the Kronborg Castle.  Such an auspicious location, featured in Hamlet and a UNESCO World Heritage site, heralded the importance of the great work to be undertaken on behalf of the child for many decades to come.