Lagos de Moreno: The Gateway to Jalisco

Lagos de Moreno, located in the northeast corner of the Mexican state of Jalisco, is an important commercial hub in the central Mexico region. While Aguascalientes lay eighty miles to the northwest, the city of Leon (in Guanajuato) is only forty miles to the east, and Mexico City is 445 miles to the south. Lagos de Moreno represents one of the twenty-four municipios that makes up the Los Altos region of Jalisco, an area that is defined by its socioeconomic and geographic nature and shares a common cultural history. [Jalisco has a total of 125 municipios.]

As of the 2020 census, the City of Lagos de Moreno had a population of 111,569, making it the 6th largest city in the state of Jalisco. A promotional booklet published by the municipio of Lagos refers to this jurisdiction as a "region of poor soil and industrious people."

Although the literal translation of Los Altos conveys the image that the region is a "high land," it is actually a plateau which is bounded by Guadalajara's Valle de Atemajac on the southwest, the states of Aguascalientes and Zacatecas on the north, and the states of San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato to the east and southeast. Lagos de Moreno is regarded by some as the gateway to Jalisco, as indicated by its position in the northeastern corner of the state.

The Indigenous People of the Lagos Area

Alfredo Moreno González, the author of Santa Maria de Los Lagos, tells us that the pre-Hispanic indigenous village occupying this area was called Pechititán (also known as Chichimequillas). It is believed that the Guachichiles, Guamares, Tecuexes and other indigenous peoples occupied the area. The Guachichile Indians - whose primary territory included most of Zacatecas - were a particularly warlike group.

Originally the area of Santa Maria de Los Lagos was part of the Spanish jurisdiction known as “Lagos.” According to Peter Gerhard’s The North Frontier of New Spain, Teocaltiche to the west was an area inhabited by Cazcán-speaking peasants. The area to the southwest around San Juan de los Lagos, Encarnación de Díaz and Jalostotitlán was primarily occupied by the "Chichimecas Blancos," a Guamares tribe who used limestone pigments to color their faces and bodies.

The Conquest Begins (1530)

In March 1530, the delicate balance of power between the tribes of this region was forever altered with the intrusion of a new and dynamic military force. Nuño de Guzmán's lieutenant, Pedro Almíndez Chirinos, with a force of fifty Spaniards and 500 Tarascans and Tlaxcalans, appeared in the area. The fact that the indigenous people of this region gave Chirinos and his men a peaceful reception probably saved them. The main branch of Guzmán's army ravaged through large parts of Jalisco, Nayarit, and Sinaloa, destroying villages and enslaving the Amerindians. With his superior military firepower and the strategic assistance of his Indian allies, Guzmán forever changed the landscape of Jalisco.

The Mixtón Rebellion

A decade later, during the Mixtón Rebellion of 1540-41, the Cazcán Indians living in this region (and in many parts of eastern and northern Jalisco) rose in rebellion against the Spanish military authorities. In a desperate attempt to drive the Spaniards and sedentary Indians from their native lands, the Cazcán Indians burned several churches and killed Christian missionaries. After the Mixtón Rebellion was put down in 1541, cattlemen from Guadalajara started to run their herds through the entire Los Altos region, which had been given the name Los Lanos (The Flatlands). 

The Discovery of Silver (1546)

With the discovery of silver near the city of Zacatecas in 1546, the "silver roads" leading from the mining camps to Mexico City became very strategic routes. Between December 1548 and March 1549, the Audiencia of Nueva Galicia – embracing about 180,000 square kilometers – was created and the present-day Mexican states of Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Colima, Jalisco, Nayarit and Zacatecas. Lagos de Moreno would be a small part of this vast province.

The Chichimeca War (1550-1590)
In 1550, the Guachichile started to attack caravans traveling along the strategic Zacatecas-Guanajuato-Mexico City road. This became known as the Chichimeca War, and it involved several Chichimeca tribal groups. In reality, “Chichimecas” was the collective name for a wide range of indigenous groups living throughout Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Jalisco and Guanajuato.  They did not share a common language, but the majority of them were united in their resistance to the Spaniards occupying their territory. The following map created Grin20 in 2012 shows the large swathe of land occupied by the Chichimecas:

In 1554, the Chichimecas attacked a caravan of Spaniards in the nearby Ojuelos area, causing significant loss of life and material. In 1563, Viceroy Luis de Velasco called for the foundation of villas, forts, and military prisons throughout Nueva Galicia to protect travelers, missionaries, and laborers carrying supplies to the mining sites and silver ore from the mines to refining sites. The mines at Comanja (to the immediate east of Lagos) had been settled in 1560.

Establishment of Santa Maria de los Lagos (1563)

On January 15, 1563, as the Chichimec War raged throughout the region, the Spanish administration at Guadalajara authorized the founding of Santa María de Lagos in order to consolidate the position of the Spanish military in this area. It was hoped that Lagos would help the Spanish forces to protect traffic to and from the Zacatecas mines. La Villa de Santa María de los Lagos was founded in March 1563 at the crossing of two roadways to serve as a defensive outpost. It was called Lagos because of the many lakes in the region. An Andalusian conquistador, Hernando de Martell, was charged with the founding of the town and oversaw the settlement of seventy-three families of colonists in the small settlement. By May 1563, the Spanish settlers of this town had already built twenty houses. The town soon became a shelter for travelers and an outpost for the Spanish caravans as they traveled the silver route from the rich mines of Zacatecas to Mexico City.

However, with the Indian depredations hitting closer and closer to Lagos, fear took its toll on the population and economy of Lagos. By March 1574, the menace of Indian attack caused so many people to flee that only eight residents stayed on. 

The Marqués Seeks Peaceful Transition for the Chichimecas (1585)

In 1585, Alonso Manrique de Zuñiga, the Marqués de Villamanrique, recently appointed as the Viceroy of Mexico, decided to investigate Spanish policies in the war zone. The Viceroy learned that some Spanish soldiers had begun raiding Indian settlements for the purpose of enslavement. Infuriated by this practice, he prohibited further enslavement of all captured Indians and freed or placed under religious care those who had already been captured. He soon launched a full-scale peace offensive and opened up negotiations with the principal Chichimeca leaders. In trade for peace, Villamanrique offered food, clothing, lands, and agricultural implements. This policy of "peace by purchase" worked and by the early 1590s, the raids had ceased.

In the meantime, Catholic missionaries had begun a vigorous campaign to win the hearts and souls of the native peoples of this region. The peace offensive and missionary efforts were so successful that within a few years, the Amerindians near Lagos and other nearby settlements were persuaded settle down in local settlements alongside the sedentary Indians who were brought in from Central Mexico.

The Establishment of the Catholic Church (1585)

On October 28, 1585, the canonical establishment of the Parish Church of Santa María de Los Lagos took place. But one marriage in 1583 and three in 1584 were recorded in the church book before the parish was officially established. By 1585, four marriages had been performed there. However, the baptisms book is only available back to 1615, as revealed in Mario Gómez Mata’s Bautismos, Matrimonios y Defunciones, En El Primer Siglo de Santa María de Los Lagos (2010).

Who Were the First Spanish Settlers of Santa Maria de los Lagos?

The first marriages in the Lagos de Moreno church book provide clues to some of the earliest settlers of Lagos. In the first known marriage recorded in 1583, Juan Gil, a resident of Guanajuato, was married to Tomasa Gómez, a daughter of Juan de Portugal and Catalina Lopez, who were residents of Lagos. Juan Gómez de Portugal [his full name] was born in 1536 in Abrantes, Santarém, Portugal and, according to Mariano González-Leal, was among the 73 families that first came to Lagos in 1563. He had seven children with Catalina López De Nava.

Another well-known early family of Lagos was the López de Elizalde which came from the Villa de Tolosa in the Province of Guipúzcoa. The two progenitors of that family were Miguel López de Elizalde and his wife María de Aberruza. In fact, the third marriage recorded in Lagos on January 5, 1585 was between Juan López — the son of Miguel and Maria — and Leonor Becerra.

The fifth marriage in Lagos, performed on August 18, 1585, united Rodrigo Muñoz [de Jerez] and Catalina López in marriage. It is believed that Rodrigo probably came from Valladolid in Spain. The seventh marriage on June 2, 1586 united Diego Frausto, a resident of León (Guanajuato] and Magdalena Gil de Lara, thus reminding us that some of the early settlers came from cities in nearby Guanajuato.

Another early marriage took place on September 18, 1588 between Hernando de Villegas and Inés López [de Nava]. It is believed that Hernando de Villegas may have come from Trujillo, in Extremadura, Spain.

Another early settler of Lagos was of Captain Juan López de Nava, who was also one of the earliest settlers in Lagos. He was married to Inés López Muñoz and one of their children was Inés who was married to Hernando de Villegas, as stated earlier. The matrimonial records from 1583 to 1590 and from 1612 to 1623 are available on pages 219 to 236 in Mario Gómez Mata’s Bautismos, Matrimonios y Defunciones, En El Primer Siglo de Santa María de Los Lagos (2010). They are also available on FamilySearch Library Film #221879.

More Spaniards Arrive in Lagos

As the Sixteenth Century progressed and the Amerindian attacks became less frequent, the Royal Crown started granting land titles to Spanish settlers in the Los Altos region. During the period between 1550 and 1555, Viceroy Velasco had sold a large number of land grants to cattlemen. Many of the Spanish people who first settled in the area of Lagos are believed to have come from Castilla, Andalusía and Extremadura. But the parish registers at the church during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries also indicate a significant population of indios (Indians), mestizos (persons of both Indian and Spanish extraction) and mulattos libres (free people of African and Spanish descent).

The Period After Independence

From the Seventeenth through the Nineteenth centuries, Lagos experienced many economic and political ups and downs. But in 1821, all of Mexico became independent from Spain. "With independence," writes Ms. Craig, "the political stature of Lagos within the state of Jalisco became apparent, reflecting its relative size and cultural and economic development." In 1823, the Convenio de Lagos (Agreement of Lagos) was signed in Santa Maria de los Lagos, establishing the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco. On March 27, 1824, Santa Maria was given the title of city. Then, on April 9, 1829, the city was renamed as Lagos de Moreno in memory of insurgent General Pedro Moreno (1775-1817), one of the rebel chiefs in the War of Independence.

The Battle Between Liberals and Conservatives

The bitter and desperate battle between the Mexico's Liberals and Conservatives began with independence (1821) and continued into the Twentieth Century. During the political instability of 1829, 1831 and 1916, Lagos de Moreno served as the state capital of Jalisco. In 1855, after two decades of Conservative administrations in the Mexican Republic, the Liberal Party, advocating a system of government similar to that of the United States, came to power in Mexico.

In 1855, a second and similarly titled Convenio de Lagos (Agreement of Lagos) was signed in Lagos de Moreno, in which the Plan of Ayutla was adopted by the Liberals. The written plan advocated for the removal of the conservative President Antonio López de Santa Ana from the Presidency of Mexico. A controversial and pivotal figure in Mexican politics, Santan Ana had already served as President multiple times between 1833 and 1855 and had declared himself to be a dictator-for-life. After a 19-month guerrila war, the Liberals finally forced Santa Ana to abdicate on August 12, 1855. He fled into exile.

This change in government led to a period of significant political change and untold violence known as La Reforma (The Reform). In a series of sweeping decrees brought about by the Constitution of 1857, special privileges were abolished. These laws threatened the established order – the large landowners, the Catholic Church, and the army – all of which had occupied a privileged position during the colonial period and under the traditional Conservative governments.

Jalisco’s Decade of Revolt (1855-1864)

The liberal constitutional reforms that had been initiated in the 1857 constitution caused a great deal of polarization throughout Jalisco. "Violent social protest in the Jalisco countryside erupted without comparison in the years 1855-1864," writes the historian Dawn Fogle Deaton. "Jalisco's 'decade of revolt' witnessed massive peasant mobilizations more frequently and in greater numbers than during any other time in the state's history." From 1855 to 1864, seventeen peasant rebellions broke out in the state, leading to eighteen transfers of power in the state government. In April 1857, the political and military discord reached Lagos.

The War of the Reform (1857-1860)

The changes of La Reforma were so drastic that a three-year civil war broke out that is commonly known as La Guerra de Reforma (War of the Reform). After a great deal of bloodshed, the Conservatives were finally defeated. However, three years of civil war had severely damaged Mexico’s infrastructure and crippled its economy. Mexico's agricultural and mining production, upon which the national economy had depended, ground to a halt, causing the Mexican government to incur a heavy foreign debt. During La Guerra Reforma, Lagos de Moreno changed hands between liberal and conservative forces multiple times until an eventual liberal victory in 1861. The War of the Reform would be followed by five years of French occupation (1862-1867), during which some Conservative elements supported the French presence in Mexico.

The Porfiriato (1876-1911)

Ms. Craig writes that "the intended image of architectural beauty, refinement of the arts, intellectual desire, and genteel living" of Lagos de Moreno coincided with the reign and dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz (1876-1911). In these years, Lagos de Moreno became known as the "Athens of Jalisco." The large haciendas in the countryside near Lagos "reached their maximum size and the local aristocracy attained its cultural zenith." Starting in 1872, the city held a traditional August fiesta to commemorate Lagos' patron saint. This fiesta "became the social highlight of the year." The numerous religious celebrations and processes led to "extensive visiting between haciendas, country picnics, horse races, bull and cock fights, elegant dinners and balls, literary and musical contests, and poetry recitals."

The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)

The Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 was a period of demographic and economic change for Lagos de Moreno. "Families of means," writes Ms. Craig, "abandoned rural areas and provincial towns. Prominent landowning families from Lagos went mainly to Mexico City." For Lagos, the years from 1914 to 1917 proved to be "the worst in terms of hunger, disease, and economic chaos." By 1917, however, many land-owning families returned to the city.

Lagos de Moreno’s Rural Character

"From 1900 to 1930," explains Ms. Craig, "the municipio as a whole retained its predominantly rural character: nearly two-thirds of the inhabitants lived outside of the municipio seat." But, during these years, there was a pronounced exodus from Lagos. According to the Dirección General de Estadística, Censo General de Población: Estado de Jalisco, the population of Lagos declined from 15,999 in 1900 to 12,054 in 1930. The population of the municipio declined even more dramatically, dropping from 53,205 people in 1900 to 35,933 in 1930.

The Cristero Rebellion (1927-1929)

In 1926, President Plutarco Elías Calles took office as President of the Mexican Republic. A morose, stubborn man, Calles was a strongly anti-Catholic politician who decided to strictly enforce the anti-clerical articles of the 1917 Constitution. Article 3 had called for secular education in the schools, while Article 5 outlawed monastic orders. Article 24 forbade public worship outside the confines of churches, and Article 27 placed restrictions on the right of religious organizations to hold property. Article 130 actually deprived clergy members of basic rights. Priests and nuns were denied the right to wear clerical attire, to vote, to criticize government officials or to comment on public affairs in religious periodicals. In June 1926 Calles signed a decree officially known as "The Law for Reforming the Penal Code" and unofficially as the "Calles Law." The provisions of this law stated that priests were to be fined 500 pesos (about $250 at the time) for wearing clerical garb. In addition, a priest could be imprisoned five years for criticizing the government.

Enraged by the Calles Law, the Mexican Episcopate called for a boycott and resistance. The boycott, aimed at recreation, commerce, transportation and schools, was very successful. Catholics in Lagos de Moreno stopped attending movies and plays, riding on buses or streetcars, and Catholic teachers refused to serve in secular schools. The Cristero Rebellion officially began with a manifesto issued by René Capistrán Garza on New Year's Day 1927. Titled A la Nación (To the Nation), it declared that "the hour of battle has sounded." On this day, ragged bands of ranchers, some armed with ancient muskets and others only with clubs, seized one village after another.

"Between 1926 and 1929," explains Ms. Craig, "Laguenses became enmeshed in a complex set of conflicts which originated outside their communities but had severe local repercussions. Nationally, the Cristero rebellion was a critical confrontation between the revolutionary government, with its policies for social transformation and political centralization, and the Catholic Church and its devoted followers."

Both the Revolution and the Cristero Rebellion provoked a steady outflow of Laguenses, in which Lagos saw a significant portion of its population emigrate to the United States during the 1910s and 1920s. This led, according to Ms. Craig, to "a pattern of regional economic dependence on wages brought or sent back by seasonal workers in the United States - a pattern which persists today."

Livestock as the Primary Element of the Lagos Economy

By 1930, the raising of livestock continued to be the mainstay of the Lagos economy. Beef and dairy cattle and sheep, however, required extensive grazing acreage. In 1930, 60% of the landowners in Lagos owned less than 1% of the land, while 1.2% of the landowners, each of whom owned at least 500 hectares, owned 74.5% of the land in the municipio. Such conditions led to the agrarian reform of the 1930s, a primary topic of discussion in Ms. Craig's work.

The Lagos Economy Today

Today, Lagos de Moreno's economy continues to be dominated by livestock-raising. In recent decades, the area has also become one of the principal dairy production regions in Mexico due principally to Nestlé's setting up a plant in the early 1940s inside the city limits of Lagos de Moreno. The establishment of the Nestlé plant prompted cattle ranchers to shift from meat production to milk production.
Like many other regions of Western Mexico, Lagos de Moreno and Los Altos are still considered "traditional sending regions." The bond between Lagos and the United States has been strengthened by the city's one-hundred-year-old history of U.S.-bound migration. In spite of this steady outflow, the population of the city grew from 12,054 in 1930 to 33,782 in 1970, while the number of inhabitants in the municipio climbed from 35,933 in 1930 to 65,950 in 1970. From 1960 to 1990, the population of Lagos de Moreno grew faster than that of the state of Jalisco. The industrialization of Lagos began to attract laborers from neighboring rural communities. Today, Lagos is a favorite destination for tourists exploring Jalisco and Aguascalientes.  Lagos, in effect, represents the Gateway to Jalisco.

Lagos de Moreno in the 2020 Census

As of the 2020 Mexican census, The City of Lagos de Moreno had a population of 111,569, making it the sixth largest city in Jalisco. The Municipio of Lagos de Moreno as a whole had an estimated population of 164,981 in 2015. In the City of Lagos de Moreno, 38,024 dwellings were enumerated, of which 38,002 were private households.

Primary Sources:

Michael P. Costeloe, The Central Republic in Mexico, 1835-1846. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Ann L. Craig, The First Agraristas: An Oral History of a Mexican Agrarian Reform Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
Dawn Fogle Deaton, "The Decade of Revolt: Peasant Rebellion in Jalisco, Mexico, 1855-1864," in Robert H. Jackson (ed.), Liberals, the Church, and Indian Peasants: Corporate Lands and the Challenge of Reform in Nineteenth-Century Spanish America. Albuquerque: New Mexico Press, 1997.
Peter Gerhard, The North Frontier of New Spain. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1982.