diff --git a/packages/docusaurus/src/client/PendingNavigation.js b/packages/docusaurus/src/client/PendingNavigation.js
index 860557956e93..ae6a22d29ec4 100644
--- a/packages/docusaurus/src/client/PendingNavigation.js
+++ b/packages/docusaurus/src/client/PendingNavigation.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import nprogress from 'nprogress';
 
 import clientLifecyclesDispatcher from './client-lifecycles-dispatcher';
 import preload from './preload';
+import normalizeLocation from './normalizeLocation';
 
 import 'nprogress/nprogress.css';
 
@@ -37,19 +38,20 @@ class PendingNavigation extends React.Component {
     // If `routeDidChange` is true, means the router is trying to navigate to a new
     // route. We will preload the new route.
     if (routeDidChange) {
+      const nextLocation = normalizeLocation(nextProps.location);
       this.startProgressBar(delay);
       // Save the location first.
-      this.previousLocation = this.props.location;
+      this.previousLocation = normalizeLocation(this.props.location);
       this.setState({
         nextRouteHasLoaded: false,
       });
 
       // Load data while the old screen remains.
-      preload(routes, nextProps.location.pathname)
+      preload(routes, nextLocation.pathname)
         .then(() => {
           clientLifecyclesDispatcher.onRouteUpdate({
             previousLocation: this.previousLocation,
-            location: nextProps.location,
+            location: nextLocation,
           });
           // Route has loaded, we can reset previousLocation.
           this.previousLocation = null;
@@ -59,7 +61,7 @@ class PendingNavigation extends React.Component {
             },
             this.stopProgressBar,
           );
-          const {hash} = nextProps.location;
+          const {hash} = nextLocation;
           if (!hash) {
             window.scrollTo(0, 0);
           } else {
@@ -94,7 +96,7 @@ class PendingNavigation extends React.Component {
     this.clearProgressBarTimeout();
     this.progressBarTimeout = setTimeout(() => {
       clientLifecyclesDispatcher.onRouteUpdateDelayed({
-        location: this.props.location,
+        location: normalizeLocation(this.props.location),
       });
       nprogress.start();
     }, delay);
@@ -107,7 +109,9 @@ class PendingNavigation extends React.Component {
 
   render() {
     const {children, location} = this.props;
-    return <Route location={location} render={() => children} />;
+    return (
+      <Route location={normalizeLocation(location)} render={() => children} />
+    );
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus/src/client/__tests__/normalizeLocation.test.js b/packages/docusaurus/src/client/__tests__/normalizeLocation.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..415250a2cd28
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/docusaurus/src/client/__tests__/normalizeLocation.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+import normalizeLocation from '../normalizeLocation';
+
+describe('normalizeLocation', () => {
+  test('rewrite locations with index.html', () => {
+    expect(
+      normalizeLocation({
+        pathname: '/docs/introduction/index.html',
+        search: '?search=foo',
+        hash: '#features',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      pathname: '/docs/introduction',
+      search: '?search=foo',
+      hash: '#features',
+    });
+
+    expect(
+      normalizeLocation({
+        pathname: '/index.html',
+        search: '',
+        hash: '#features',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      pathname: '/',
+      search: '',
+      hash: '#features',
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('untouched pathnames', () => {
+    expect(
+      normalizeLocation({
+        pathname: '/docs/introduction',
+        search: '',
+        hash: '#features',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      pathname: '/docs/introduction',
+      search: '',
+      hash: '#features',
+    });
+
+    expect(
+      normalizeLocation({
+        pathname: '/docs/introduction/foo.html',
+        search: '',
+        hash: '#bar',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      pathname: '/docs/introduction/foo.html',
+      search: '',
+      hash: '#bar',
+    });
+
+    expect(
+      normalizeLocation({
+        pathname: '/',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      pathname: '/',
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/docusaurus/src/client/normalizeLocation.js b/packages/docusaurus/src/client/normalizeLocation.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..5e85db009e43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/docusaurus/src/client/normalizeLocation.js
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+// Memoize previously normalized pathnames.
+const pathnames = {};
+
+function normalizeLocation(location) {
+  if (pathnames[location.pathname]) {
+    return {
+      ...location,
+      pathname: pathnames[location.pathname],
+    };
+  }
+  
+  let pathname = location.pathname || '/';
+  pathname = pathname.trim().replace(/\/index\.html$/, '');
+  
+  if (pathname === '') {
+    pathname = '/';
+  }
+  
+  pathnames[location.pathname] = pathname;
+  
+  return {
+    ...location,
+    pathname,
+  };
+}
+
+export default normalizeLocation;