Dalai Lama escaped China, began exile in India on this day

The Dalai Lama, born as Tensin Gyatso, fled the Chinese suppression of a national uprising in Tibet, reaching Dharamsala, India on March 31, 1959, where he was granted political asylum. This came after China invaded Tibet in 1950 bringing it under communist control. Tibet then became China's "national autonomous region" under the traditional rule of the 14th Dalai Lama.