Terra Nostra (novel) Terra Nostra (novel) Terra Nostra is a 1975 novel by the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. The narrative covers 20 centuries of European and American culture, and prominently features the construction of El Escorial by Philip II. The title is Latin for "Our earth". The novel received the Xavier Villaurrutia Award in 1976 and the Rómulo Gallegos Prize in 1977. "Terra Nostra", perhaps Fuentes' most ambitious novel, is a "massive, Byzantine work" that tells the story of all Hispanic civilization. Modeled on James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake", "Terra Nostra" shifts unpredictably between the sixteenth century and the twentieth, seeking the roots of
Lada Terra as well as many other features that scientists use to attempt to piece together the history of this complex planet. The distinctive cross-cutting relationships found in the bedding of Lada Terra have been important in realizing relative ages of the extensional belts and coronae, as well as the complex tesserae features present planet-wide. In 1990 the Venus Radar Mapper revealed the largest outflow channel system on the planet located in the northern region of Lada Terra. Although Lada Terra is generally considered a highland of Venus, the topography is much lower-lying than its northern counterparts Ishtar Terra and Aphrodite Terra.