This is the 2810th most frequent Catalan word.
coneixien
"Coneixien" means "they knew" or "they were acquainted with."
The word 'coneixien' here is used to express a past habitual state of knowing or being familiar with something (the traditions in this case).
Els meus avis coneixien totes les tradicions antigues del poble.
My grandparents knew all the old traditions of the village.
In this sentence, 'coneixien' is employed to denote a state of being acquainted with people at a specific point in the past.
Quan van arribar, ja coneixien a molta gent de la festa.
When they arrived, they already knew many people at the party.
Here, 'coneixien' is used to indicate the explorers' awareness or familiarity with the difficulty of the path prior to commencing their exploration.