The visited sites view is possible to disable (either under settings, or, at the very least, about:config + search newtabpage (or something along those lines, I

The visited sites view is possible to disable (either under settings, or, at the very least, about:config + search newtabpage (or something along those lines, I can neither remember or test it)), and there is a small symbol in the top right corner that hides the site display. (Admittedly none of those solve the underlying problem of history being preserved.)