Cosiioeza
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Biography
Cosijoeza, Cocijoeza o Cosiioeza (Zapotec: Gzio'za'a or Kosi'ioeza) (1450-1504) was a Coquitao (King in Zapotec) of Zaachila (the kingdom not to be confused with the homonymous city), its name in Zapotec means "Storm of obsidian knives" or "time of obsidian knives", was named by Aztecs as Huizquiauitl. He ascended the throne in 1487, faced the expansionism of the Aztec Empire or Mexico and built the city of Guiengola.
The geostrategic importance of the kingdom of Zaachilais due to its condition as a bridge between the highlands of the Anáhuac center and the Mayan lands of what is now Chiapas and Guatemala, as well as its important salt production industry on the coast, goldsmith and grana cochineal (these activities continue to be industries in the region although with less economic influence than in the past) because of this the Zaachila was seen under the ambition of the Mexican Empire.
In the face of the threat posed by the Mexicans, in 1494 King Cosiíoe ordered the killing of the children who were in his territory for being the spies, the Mexican emperor Ahuitzotl took these murders as casus belli, and in 1497 the Mexican war began. Zapotec, the city of Huaxyacac was the first to be attacked and destroyed, then it was Mitla, the military campaign spread through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and reach the Soconusco, this led to Cosiíoeza to propose an alliance to the Mixtec king Dzahuindanda , Dzahuindanda accepted this alliance and supplied 24,000 warriors that joined the 36,000 of Zaachila's army, together they succeeded in expelling the Mexicans.
In 1497 Ahuizotl again attacked the Zapotec and Mixteca allied kingdoms and sent the general command army Tlacatecat to the bastion that represented Guiengola, the siege of the city lasted 7 months, Ahuizotl then proposed a peace treaty to Cosiíoeza in which he included the hand of his daughter, the princess Xilabela. From this union, princes Cosiiopii II and Pinopiaa were born.
At his death Cosiíoeza was buried in the city of Zaachila, capital of the homonymous kingdom, a place where it was customary to bury the Zapotec sovereigns.
Preceded by Zaachila III | King of Zaachila 1487–1504 | Succeeded by Cosijopii |