Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. He is best known for his novel Don Quixote, which is considered one of the greatest works of literature of all time. Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid, and served in the Spanish Navy. He was captured by Barbary pirates and spent five years as a slave in Algiers before being ransomed. After his return to Spain, he wrote several plays and novels, including the two-part Don Quixote. Cervantes was a master of the picaresque novel, a genre of fiction that focuses on the adventures of a roguish hero. He is also credited with introducing the literary technique of intertextuality, in which a work of literature references other works. Cervantes' influence on literature is immense, and his works are still widely read and studied today.