page_title: 1959
section_title: March
hierarchical_section_title: 1959 / Events / March
caption_attribution_description: English: A view from Busch Gardens Africa's "Edge of Africa" walk-through attraction. Italiano: Una vista dall'attrazione a passeggio "Edge of Africa" di Busch Gardens Africa.
context_page_description: 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1959th year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 959th year of the 2nd millennium, the 59th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1950s decade.
context_section_description: March 1
  The USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia are stricken from the United States Naval Vessel Register.
  Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
  March 2 – Recording sessions for the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis take place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
  March 3 – Lunar probe Pioneer 4 becomes the first American object to escape dominance by Earth's gravity.
  March 8 – The Marx Brothers make their last television appearance, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery, part of General Electric Theatre.
  March 9 – Mattel's Barbie doll debuts in the United States.
  March 10 – The Tibetan uprising erupts in Lhasa when Chinese officials attempt to arrest the Dalai Lama.
  March 11
  A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway.
  The Eurovision Song Contest 1959, staged in Cannes, is won for the Netherlands by "'n Beetje" sung by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, lyrics by Willy van Hemert).
  March 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama escapes Tibet and arrives in India.
  March 18 – American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Hawaii Admission Act, granting statehood to Hawaii.
  March 19 – Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963), in the Maldives Islands.
  March 26 – Tenor saxophonist John Coltrane holds initial recording sessions for the album Giant Steps with Cedar Walton and Lex Humphries.
  March 28 – The Kashag, the government of Tibet, is abolished by an order signed by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai. The Dalai Lama is replaced in China by a puppet ruler, the Panchen Lama.
  March 31
  The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.
  The original Busch Gardens amusement park opens in Tampa, Florida, U.S.
caption: March 31: Busch Gardens opens in Florida
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