Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

Security workers at airports use X-ray

machines to check for dangerous items in

passengers’ bags.

82 X-rays BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

Yaks carry and pull heavy

loads for people. People also

keep yaks for their meat and

milk.

(See Yak.)

The Yangtze is the longest river

in all of Asia.

(See Yangtze River.)

The leaves and seeds of yew

trees are very poisonous.

(See Yew.)

The word yoga comes from an

ancient Sanskrit word that

means “union.”

(See Yoga.)

Seven countries in southeastern

Europe used to make up one

country called Yugoslavia.

(See Yugoslavia.)

Thousands of people came to

the Yukon in Canada after gold

was discovered there in 1896.

(See Yukon Territory.)

Yy

 

Yak

The yak is a large, shaggy ox with

humped shoulders. It lives on high land,

mostly in the part of China called Tibet.

For centuries the people of Tibet have

tamed yaks to use as work animals and

as a source of food. The yak is related to

cattle, buffalo, and bison. Its scientific

name is Bos grunniens.

The yak lives in cold places with few

plants. Sometimes it has to roam a long

way to find enough grass to eat. Its long

hair helps it stay warm. The yak also

needs a lot of water. In winter it often

eats snow.

Some yaks live in the wild, but they are

very rare. Wild yaks have blackish

brown hair and large horns.Wild males

may weigh up to 2,200 pounds (1,000

kilograms). Females are smaller.Wild

yaks live in herds made up of females

and young animals. Adult males live

alone or in smaller groups.

Domestic, or tamed, yaks are much

smaller than wild yaks. They can be red,

brown, black, or black and white. They

have smaller horns than wild yaks. Some

domestic yaks have no horns.

People use domestic yaks for carrying

and pulling heavy loads. Yaks are also

kept for their meat and milk. The hair is

used to make rope and cloth. The skin is

used for caps, coats, and blankets.

#More to explore

Cattle

Yakama

The Yakama are Native Americans of the

U.S. state ofWashington. They have a

large reservation on the land where they

have lived for thousands of years. The

nearby city of Yakima was named after

the tribe. The tribe’s name is sometimes

spelled Yakima.

The Yakama moved with the seasons. In

winter they lived in homes called lodges.

They built their lodges by covering a

wooden frame with mats woven from

leaves. In spring the Yakama camped in

places where they could gather wild

plants to eat. In summer they moved to

the Columbia River area to fish for

salmon. In autumn they hunted and

gathered berries in the Cascade Mountains.

In the early 1700s the Yakama got

horses from other tribes. On horseback

they traveled east onto the Great Plains

to hunt bison (buffalo).

In 1805 the U.S. explorersMeriwether

Lewis andWilliam Clark passed through

Yakama lands. Fur traders and Christian

missionaries came next. The U.S.

government wanted to open the tribe’s

A boy in Nepal leads a domesticated, or

tamed, yak.

84 Yak BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

land to white settlers. From 1855 to 1858

the Yakama fought a war against U.S.

troops. The Yakama lost and were forced

to move to a reservation. At the end of the

20th century there were more than 8,000

Yakama living in the United States.

#More to explore

Lewis and Clark Expedition • Native

Americans

Yamoussoukro

Population

(2003 estimate)

185,600

Yamoussoukro is the capital of Cote

d’Ivoire, a country in western Africa. It

became the official capital in the late

20th century. However, many

government offices remained in

Abidjan, the country’s first capital and

largest city.

One of the world’s largest Christian

churches is in Yamoussoukro. It is a type

of Roman Catholic church called a

basilica. It can hold 18,000 people.

Until the 1960s Yamoussoukro was a

small village. In 1960 Cote d’Ivoire

became an independent country with

Abidjan as its capital. However, Yamoussoukro

was the hometown of the country’s

first president, Felix Houphouet-

Boigny. He spent large amounts of his

family’s money to make Yamoussoukro

more modern. The city grew and

became more important. In 1983 it

became the official capital of Cote

d’Ivoire.

#More to explore

Abidjan • Cote d’Ivoire

A Yakama tepee is covered with

mats woven from reeds. It was

made in the early 1900s.

A woman carries coconuts past the Yamoussoukro

Basilica, a church in Cote d’Ivoire’s

capital. It is one of the largest Roman

Catholic churches in the world.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Yamoussoukro 85

 

Yangon

Population

(2005 estimate)

4,107,000

Yangon is the largest city and main port

of Myanmar, a country in Southeast

Asia. The city lies on the Yangon River.

It is Myanmar’s center of industry.

Yangon was the country’s capital until

2006.

The most famous site in Yangon is a

group of ancient Buddhist temple buildings

called the Shwedagon Pagoda. The

city began as a settlement around this

Buddhist site. The king of Myanmar

developed the city as a port in the

1750s. After that Yangon grew.

Great Britain captured Yangon in 1852.

The British called the city Rangoon and

the country Burma. In the 1880s the

British took control of all of Burma.

They made Rangoon the capital.

In 1948 Burma became an independent