Zorro (Spanish for
"fox") is the secret identity of Don
Diego de
la Vega, a fictional
character created in 1919 by pulp
writer
Johnston McCulley. He
is a Californio nobleman living in Los
Angeles during the era
of Mexican rule (between 1821 and 1846)
although some movie
adaptations of Zorro's story have
placed
him during the earlier
Spanish rule.
The character has
undergone changes through the years,
but
the typical image of
him is a dashing black-clad masked
outlaw
who defends the
commoners and indigenous peoples of the
land against
tyrannical officials and other villains.
Not only is
he too cunning and
foxlike for the bumbling authorities to
catch,
but he also delights
in publicly humiliating them.
