Short answers, pulled from the story.
Yaroslav the Wise established the city when he stepped ashore near the area now known as Strelka. He began building the first Yaroslavl Kremlin on land protected by high, steep banks of the Volga, Kotorosl, and Medveditsa rivers.
Archaeologists uncovered a settlement dating from the 5th to the 3rd millennium BCE directly in front of the Strelka cape where the Kotorosl River meets the main waterway. Excavations at Timerevo revealed burial mounds containing Scandinavian weapons with runic inscriptions, chess pieces, and the largest collection of Arabian coins found in northern Europe.
During the spring of 1609, Polish forces under Aleksander Józef Lisowski attempted to capture the city but failed after a siege lasting until May 22. From April to June 1612, Yaroslavl became the de facto capital of Russia while Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky organized a peasants' army that eventually liberated Moscow.
In July 2005, Yaroslavl's historic city center was inscribed onto the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This recognition followed centuries of development including the establishment of the Volkov Theater in 1750 and the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery founded in the 12th century.
The Yaroslavl Rebellion lasted from July 6 to 21, 1918 when conservative activists tried to remove Bolshevik authorities resulting in about 600 deaths and damage to around 2,000 buildings. During World War II air raids targeted the city in 1942 and 1943 with over 120 inhabitants killed on the 11th of June 1943 alone.