Ubuntu :: Create Some Aliases For Bash Shell?

I would like to create some aliases for bash shell. On other Unix/Linux machines I have done this using the alias command like this: alias rm rm -i

When I type that into a terminal on Ubuntu, it looks like alias is not installed. I get this:

bash: alias: rm: not found
bash: alias: rm: not found
bash: alias: -i: not found

I tried adding the alias to .bashrc instead, but then I get the same error message every time I start terminal. Just for fun I tried apt-get install alias, just to see what would happen, and it installed something called libperl-alias instead, and alias still doesn't work.