Chronology of World History

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URL: http://kpolsson.com/worldhis/

References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2023 December 20.


1959

January 1
  • Fidel Castro leads Cuba to victory as Fulgencio Batista flees to the Dominican Republic. [1] [129]
  • Chad becomes autonomous republic in French Community. [1]
January 3
  • Alaska becomes the 49th state to join the USA. [1] [129] [437.108] [453.70]
January 4
  • Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes first spacecraft to leave Earth's gravity and reach the vicinity of the Moon. [1] [5]
January 7
  • US recognizes Fidel Castro's Cuban government. [1]
January 8
  • Charles de Gaulle inaugurated as President of France's 5th Republic. [1]
January 9
  • Dam across Tera River collapses after heavy winter rains, 135 die. [1]
January 11
  • Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Theodore Roethke. [1]
January 13
  • French president Charles de Gaulle grants amnesty to 130 Algerian death row convicts. [1]
  • King Boudouin promises Belgian Congo independence. [1]
January 17
  • The Federation of Mali is founded, from the bRepublic of Senegal and French Sudan. [1367.769]
January 22
  • US Air Force concludes less than 1 percent of UFOs are unknown objects. [1]
January 25
  • Pope John XXIII proclaims second Vatican council. [1]
January 26
  • Italy government of Fanfani resigns. [1]
January 29
  • Buena Vista premieres Disney's animated feature film Sleeping Beauty at the Fox Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles, California. The film is based on Charles Perrault's version of the story of Sleeping Beauty. [5] [6]
January 30
  • The ABC TV network airs the Walt Disney Presents TV show, entitled The Peter Tchaikovsky Story. The show is the first stereophonic broadcast of a television program. In some cities, one channel is transmitted on an AM radio station, the other channel on an FM station. [6]

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February 1
  • Swiss males vote against voting rights for women. [1]
  • Texas Instruments requests patent of integrated circuit. [1]
February 3
  • American Airlines' Electra crashes in New York's East River, killing 65. [1]
February 4
  • Israel begins exporting copper ore. [1]
February 6
  • US first successful Titan intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). [1]
February 7
  • Fidel Castro proclaims new Cuban constitution. [1]
February 10
  • Dutch Princess Wilhelmina publishes Lonely, but not alone. [1]
  • Tornado in Saint Louis kills 19 and injures 265. [1]
February 12
  • The US Mint releases the 1959 Lincoln Memorial cent to circulation. (The design is retired in 2008, after 430 billion are struck.) [512.44]
February 13
  • Miro Cardon, premier of Cuba, resigns. [1]
February 15
  • Antonio Segni forms Italian government. [1]
February 16
  • Fidel Castro names himself Cuba's premier after overthrowing Batista. [1]
February 17
  • First weather satellite launched, Vanguard 2, 9.8kg. [1]
February 19
  • Britain, Turkey and Greece sign agreement granting Cyprus independence. [1]
  • Gabon adopts its constitution. [1]
  • US Air Force rocket-powered rail sled attains Mach 4.1 (4970 kph), New Mexico. [1]
February 20
  • The Canadian Avro Arrow advanced interceptor-fighter jet plane project is cancelled. [1178.401]
February 28
  • Launch of Discoverer 1 (WTR)-first polar orbit. [1]
March 1
  • Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus after three years. [1]
March 3
  • Pioneer 4 is launched; becomes first US probe to enter solar orbit. [1]
  • British government arrests Hastings Banda of Nyasaland, ends emergency crisis. [1]
March 5
  • Iran and US sign economic and military treaty. [1]
March 6
  • Farthest radio signal heard (Pioneer IV, 400,000 miles away). [1]
March 8
  • Pro-Egyptian coup fails in Mosul, Iraq. Abdel Wahab Shawwaf, Iraqi Colonel/putschist, is murdered. [1]
March 9
  • First known radar contact is made with Venus. [1]
  • The first Barbie doll, Mattel's "Barbie Millicent Roberts", goes on display at the American Toy Fair in New York City. Eleven inches tall, Barbie is the first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult features. [129] [300.C4] [1835.31]
March 10
  • 300,000 Tibetans band together in revolt, surrounding the Norbulinka Palace of the Dalai Lama in defiance of Chinese occupation forces. [1] [129]
March 11
  • Teddy Scholten wins Eurovision Song festival with "A Little Bit". [1]
March 12
  • Dutch Liberal Party wins second parliamentary elections. [1]
March 16
  • Iraq and USSR sign economic/technical treaty. [1]
March 17
  • USS Skate is first US submarine to surface at the North Pole. [1155.1030]
  • Australia and USSR restore diplomatic relations. [1]
  • Tibet's Dalai Lama is evacuated to India. [1] [129]
March 18
  • President Dwight D Eisenhower signs Hawaii statehood bill. [1]
March 24
  • Iraq withdraws from the Baghdad Pact. [1]
March 25
  • French President Charles de Gaulle acknowledges Oder-Neisse boundary. [1]
March 28
  • Eleven days after Tibet uprising, China dissolves Tibet's government and installs Panchen Lama. [1]
April 4
  • Federation of Mali, consisting of Senegal and French Sudan, is founded (dissolved 1960). [278.1045]
April 7
  • Radar first bounced off sun, from Stanford, California. [1]
April 12
  • France Observator reports torture practice by French army in Algeria. [1]
April 13
  • US Air Force launches Discoverer II into polar orbit. [1]
  • Vatican edict forbids Roman Catholics from voting for communists. [1]
April 15
  • Fidel Castro begins US goodwill tour. [1]
April 16
  • Datu Abdul Rozak inaugurated as premier of Malaysia federation. [1]
April 17
  • A bright fireball is photographed by a synchronized network of cameras over Czechoslovakia, breaking up into about 19 pieces, with four recovered near Pribram. The photos allow determination of the asteroid belt as place of origin. [523]
April 19
  • Uprising in La Paz, Bolivia, fails. [1]
April 23
  • First heliport in Britain opens in London. [1]
April 25
  • The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping. [1] [5]
April 26
  • Cuba invades Panamá. [1]
April 27
  • Liu Sjau-chi elected President of People's Rebublic of China. [1]

End of 1959 January-April. Next: 1959 May.

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start-302 303-599 600-799 800-999 1000-1099 1100-1199 1200-1299 1300-1401 1402-1449 1450-1474
1475-1499 1500-1524 1525-1539 1540-1559 1560-1574 1575-1599 1600-1619 1620-1629 1630-1639 1640-1649
1650-1659 1660-1669 1670-1679 1680-1689 1690-1699 1700-1708 1709-1719 1720-1739 1740-1749 1750-1759
1760-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1794 1795-1799 1800-1804 1805-1809 1810-1814
1815-1819 1820-1824 1825-1829 1830-1834 1835-1836 1837-1839 1840-1844 1845-1847 1848-1849 1850-1852
1853-1854 1855-1859 1860-1861 1862-1864 1865-1867 1868-1869 1870-1871 1872-1874 1875-1877 1878-1879
1880-1882 1883-1884 1885-1887 1888-1889 1890-1892 1893-1894 1895 1896-1897 1898-1899 1900-1901
1902 1903-1904 1905 1906-1907 1908-1909 1910-1911 1912 1913 1914 1915
1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022-end


A list of references to all source material is available.


Last updated: 2023 December 20.
Copyright © 2007-2024 Ken Polsson (email: ken@kpolsson.com).
URL: http://kpolsson.com/worldhis/
Link to Ken P's home page.

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