Zorro (Spanish for "fox") is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a fictional character created in 1919 by New York–based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He is a Californio nobleman of Spanish and Native Californian descent, 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.