diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index c9a8738e5776..3a7682cec178 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v6.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 
 - Don't stop with error loading the ES template if the ES output is not enabled. {pull}4436[4436]
 - Fix race condition in internal logging rotator. {pull}4519[4519]
+- Fix issue with loading dashboards to ES 6.0 when .kibana index did not already exist. {issue}4659[4659]
 
 *Filebeat*
 
diff --git a/libbeat/dashboards/dashboards.go b/libbeat/dashboards/dashboards.go
index b72fb760642e..0794ed0a4e8c 100644
--- a/libbeat/dashboards/dashboards.go
+++ b/libbeat/dashboards/dashboards.go
@@ -102,6 +102,10 @@ func ImportDashboardsViaElasticsearch(config *common.Config, dashConfig *Dashboa
 		return false, nil
 	}
 
+	if err := esLoader.CreateKibanaIndex(); err != nil {
+		return false, fmt.Errorf("fail to create the kibana index: %v", err)
+	}
+
 	importer, err := NewImporter("5.x", dashConfig, *esLoader)
 	if err != nil {
 		return false, fmt.Errorf("fail to create an Elasticsearch importer for loading the dashboards: %v", err)
diff --git a/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader.go b/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader.go
index 8264bc1b091b..2c2319c23cd4 100644
--- a/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader.go
+++ b/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader.go
@@ -44,37 +44,20 @@ func NewElasticsearchLoader(cfg *common.Config, dashboardsConfig *DashboardsConf
 
 	loader.statusMsg("Initialize the Elasticsearch %s loader", version)
 
-	// initialize the Kibana index
-	if err := loader.createKibanaIndex(); err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("fail to create the kibana index: %v", err)
-	}
-
 	return &loader, nil
 }
 
 // CreateKibanaIndex creates the kibana index if it doesn't exists and sets
 // some index properties which are needed as a workaround for:
 // https://github.com/elastic/beats-dashboards/issues/94
-func (loader ElasticsearchLoader) createKibanaIndex() error {
+func (loader ElasticsearchLoader) CreateKibanaIndex() error {
 	status, err := loader.client.IndexExists(loader.config.KibanaIndex)
 
 	if err != nil {
 		if status != 404 {
 			return err
 		} else {
-			var settings common.MapStr
-			// XXX: this can be removed when the dashboard loaded will no longer need to support 6.0,
-			// because the Kibana API is used instead
-			if strings.HasPrefix(loader.client.GetVersion(), "6.") {
-				settings = common.MapStr{
-					"settings": common.MapStr{
-						"index.mapping.single_type": false,
-					},
-				}
-			} else {
-				settings = nil
-			}
-			_, _, err = loader.client.CreateIndex(loader.config.KibanaIndex, settings)
+			_, _, err = loader.client.CreateIndex(loader.config.KibanaIndex, nil)
 			if err != nil {
 				return fmt.Errorf("Failed to create index: %v", err)
 			}
diff --git a/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader_test.go b/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader_test.go
index 867e1fae4c3b..f160482ef841 100644
--- a/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader_test.go
+++ b/libbeat/dashboards/es_loader_test.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ func TestImporter(t *testing.T) {
 		config: &dashboardsConfig,
 	}
 
-	err := loader.createKibanaIndex()
+	err := loader.CreateKibanaIndex()
 
 	assert.NoError(t, err)