Lagos de Moreno (Spanish: [ˈlaɣos ðe moˈɾeno] (listen)) is a city and municipality in the State of Jalisco, Mexico. Lagos is located in the region of Los Altos de Jalisco, within the macroregion of the Bajío, one of the most highly developed areas in Latin America. Lagos de Moreno is occasionally known as the "Athens of Jalisco", owing to the numerous writers and poets who were born there.Lagos de Moreno was founded as Villa Santa Maria de los Lagos on March 31, 1563, by Don Hernando Martel, an Andalusian conquistador. The town was the economic and cultural center of a region that eventually attracted many ranchers. By 1600 there were over 20,000 cattle in the region. Santa Maria continued growing both physically and culturally, and by the 1800s, the town was elevated to a city and renamed to Lagos de Moreno in honor of Pedro Moreno. Lagos de Moreno was the site of the signing of several important political documents, the two identically named but unrelated Convenios de Lagos.