Kosa'aay was a

Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as 'Iipai-Tiipai or by the historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Uni ...

village in what is now Old Town, San Diego.

Etymology

In the

Kumeyaay language Kumeyaay (Kumiai), also known as Central Diegueño, Kamia, 'Iipay Aa, and Campo, is the Native American language spoken by the Kumeyaay people of southern San Diego and Imperial counties in California as well as five Kumiai communities in Baja ...

, Kosa’aay translates to “drying out place”. During Spanish settlement, the name was

Hispanicized Hispanicization () refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is illustrated by spoken ...

to Cosoy.

Population

The village was made up of thirty to forty families.

Settlement

The families in this settlement lived in pyramid-shaped housing structures that were supported by a freshwater spring, wetland vegetation and riparian vegetation along the hillsides. The village provided food and water for the

Portolá expedition thumbnail, 250px, Point of San Francisco Bay Discovery The Portolá expedition was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of the present-day California. It was led by Gas ...

in 1769 as the crew of the ''San Carlos'' and ''San Antonio'' were dying of scurvy and thirst. Lieut. Miguel Costansó described being guided by the Kumeyaay to the village as

''"they arrived on the banks of a river hemmed in on either bank by a fringe of willows and cottonwoods, very leafy...within a musket-shot from the river they discovered a town or village of the same Indians who were guiding our men. It was composed of various huts of pyramidal shape made of branches and covered with earth....The village was composed of 30 or 40 families. On one side of it there was observed an enclosure made of boughs and trunks of trees. Within this, they explained, they took refuge against attacks from their enemies.”''

The Spanish referred to the village as Cosoy, a hispanized name of Kosa'aay.

Spanish Interactions

On May 15, 1769, the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

erected a hospital camp on Presidio Hill and occupied the water source of the village as well as stationed a permanent garrison at the village upon the recovery of the members of the expedition party after the overland expedition party arrived at the village the day before.

Founding of San Diego

On July 16, 1769, a

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

was held in the dedication of Mission San Diego de Acalá and El Presidio Real de San Diego, the first mission and presidio in

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

, and the founding of the settlement of

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

in Old Town, from which the Kumeyaay village of Kosa'aay was incorporated. The settlement of San Diego would later be called ''Tepacul Watai'', meaning ''"Stacked Big"'' in Ipai Kumeyaay language, to refer to the City of San Diego.

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park

The village is acknowledged through the Iipay Tipai Kumeyaay Mut Niihepok Park at Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, which was developed with the Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy (KDLC) to enhance visibility of Kumeyaay culture and history in the village's original site. There is also a specialty shop in the state park called Kosay Kumeyaay Market, which sells cultural products from the Kumeyaay and other Yuman groups.{{Cite web, title=Kumeyaay market – Kosay, url=http://kumeyaaymarket.com/, access-date=2022-01-30, language=en-US

References

History of San Diego Kumeyaay populated places Former Native American populated places in California Kumeyaay