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History by Letter - Y

Name these historical people, places, and things beginning with the letter Y.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 17, 2019
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First submittedJuly 31, 2014
Times taken58,011
Average score55.6%
Rating4.21
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Hint
Answer
Country that broke into pieces in 1992
Yugoslavia
Cradle of Chinese civilization
Yellow River
Derogatory term for New Englanders,
turned into a point of pride
Yankee
Russia's first democratically-
elected leader
Boris Yeltsin
Meeting place of Churchill, Stalin,
and Roosevelt
Yalta
Wintertime holiday of Germanic pagans
Yule
Language that was once common
among European Jews
Yiddish
Founder of Salt Lake City
Brigham Young
Holiday on which Arab states
launched a suprise attack on Israel
Yom Kippur
Hint
Answer
Mongol dynasty that ruled China
Yuan
Peninsula struck by an asteroid,
circa 65 million BC
Yucatán
Preferred wood for making longbows
Yew
He broke the sound barrier
Chuck Yeager
Site of a chilly gold rush in the 1890s
Yukon
Original name of San Francisco
Yerba Buena
Way that herders once yelled
across the Alps
Yodeling
First name of cosmonaut Gagarin
Yuri
Commander of Japan's navy
during WWII
Isoroku
Yamamoto
+7
Level 84
Aug 1, 2014
I'm an idiot, I kept saying, "Chuck Jaeger broke the sound barrier, WTH?"
+11
Level 68
Nov 18, 2014
Too much Jagermeister?
+5
Level 58
Sep 27, 2014
Chuck Jaeger was the first to do it in a bomber?
+1
Level 62
Nov 18, 2014
+1
+12
Level 68
Nov 18, 2014
I didn't read the question correctly and spent some good time trying to figure out how to spell Yodelayheehoo.
+7
Level 69
Apr 24, 2018
Nice try but it only accepts yodelediledilehihoo
+1
Level 65
Nov 22, 2019
It is yodelahi-tii
+2
Level 82
Nov 18, 2014
I tried "Yran" as the answer for the Allied leaders meeting place. Forgot about Yalta. and I'm not sure how I knew Yerba Buena but I did manage to get it after several guesses.
+3
Level 50
Nov 18, 2014
I'd only just read this somewhere else but couldn't remember the name. Jokingly tried Yukraine but glad it didn't work.
+2
Level 71
Sep 11, 2020
I knew Yerba Buena because there's an island in the San Francisco Bay that still has that name. One of the bridges in that area (I think the Oakland Bridge) passes through it.
+1
Level 72
Sep 11, 2020
If by Oakland Bridge you mean the Bay Bridge, then yes. It's right next to Treasure Island.
+1
Level 82
Sep 11, 2020
that might be why it rang a bell for me, too, then. I briefly lived not far from the east terminus of the Bay Bridge.
+1
Level 66
Sep 11, 2020
I knew it too but tried Yuerba and Yorba. I'll remember its Yerba now.
+2
Level 56
Nov 18, 2014
I jokingly typed Yakamoto and just now realized I was almost right...

More importantly, 3 countries split off Yugoslavia in 1991, only 1 did in 1992. 1992 is technically right, but I wouldn't suggest that.

Either way, as always with front-page quizzes, good quiz!

+3
Level 50
Nov 18, 2014
I would suggest changing the clue simply to "the 1990s", rather than being wrongly over-specific.
+1
Level 35
Sep 11, 2020
What about Yemen though?
+2
Level 57
Jul 27, 2022
Yemen didn't split, it united, no?
+3
Level 86
Dec 14, 2022
Stay tuned...
+1
Level 76
Jan 7, 2018
I also guessed the commander by trying a Japanese sounding name with Y. I got it on my first attempt!
+1
Level 45
May 26, 2015
I spelled Yeltsin a million different ways and could not figure out that it was spelled Yeltsin
+1
Level 51
Dec 1, 2015
yiddish is still alive and well...
+8
Level 71
Mar 18, 2016
He runs a Deli in Bradford
+1
Level 65
Jan 9, 2018
Ha!
+1
Level 49
Feb 7, 2024
I don't get it
+4
Level 37
Aug 23, 2017
How prescient that San Francisco used to be names "Yerba Buena"

"Good Grass" (as in Marijuana)

+1
Level 75
Oct 10, 2021
Hierbabuena is mint.
+2
Level 49
Jan 7, 2018
How do so many people know the founder of a single random town? Did he ice a bear with his bare hands?
+5
Level 59
Jan 8, 2018
It's not a single random town: not only is it the state capital of Utah, it's also the hometown of the Mormon church, and Salt Lake City's foundation and the Mormons cannot be separated - Brigham Young was the church's leader who founded a city and became governor of the fledgling Utah area. There is also a university (and no doubt lots of other things) named after him, so his name will be used often enough in everyday usage in the USA to make it familiar.
+2
Level 49
Jan 10, 2018
That explains a lot about why I have never heard of him! Sounds like he'd be real fun to have at parties.
+15
Level ∞
Sep 17, 2019
Don't invite Brigham Young to your party. Not only will he force everyone to stop drinking, he'll probably end up leaving with your wife.
+5
Level 82
Jan 8, 2020
or daughter
+4
Level 78
Jul 31, 2020
or mother
+1
Level 82
Apr 24, 2018
Yeah what fit said. It's part of the foundational lore of the Mormon church. It would be similar to asking who led the Jews out of captivity in Egypt, who built the first Temple in Jerusalem, who the founders of Rome were, who founded Alexandria, or which leader led his followers on hijra to Medina.
+1
Level 78
Sep 11, 2020
I knew about Brigham Young from Lucky Luke, a Franco-Belgian comic book series.
+4
Level 71
Apr 24, 2018
So pleased that I knew "Yangtze", but couldn't figure out why it didn't work. Whoops ....
+1
Level 82
Apr 27, 2018
Why won't Yeltsin work? You don't need Chuck, Brigham and Isoroku for Yeager, Young and Yamamoto.
+1
Level ∞
Sep 17, 2019
Yeltsin does work of course.
+2
Level 79
Jul 31, 2020
I misunderstood the yew question as 'someone who preferred wood for making longbows' 🤦‍♂️
+2
Level 79
Aug 19, 2021
I re-did the quiz and got everything else, except for this same question!! (misunderstood the question again!)
+1
Level 72
Sep 11, 2020
For the country that broke into pieces in 1992, I kept thinking of Yemen, but actually it "un-broke up" from its pieces in 1990.
+1
Level 60
Jan 4, 2022
100%!!! Yay! Yippee! Yes! I never get that haha.
+1
Level 67
Jul 2, 2022
I wouldn't call the term "Yankee" exceptionally for New Englanders, as it refers to the states the prohibited slavery. This could refer to other Northern states as well like New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. I mean, look at the baseball team the New York Yankees!
+1
Level 85
Jul 7, 2022
That's right: Try calling a Bostonian a "Yankee" and see where it gets you!
+1
Level 21
Dec 15, 2022
was trying so hard to put "Yangzte" instead of yellow river.

I thought I had spelling problem and didn't know Huan he was known as yellow river.