Práxedes Mariano Mateo Sagasta y Escolar (21 July 1825 – 5 January 1903) was a Spanish civil engineer and politician who served as Prime Minister on eight occasions between 1870 and 1902—always in charge of the Liberal Party—as part of the turno pacifico, alternating with the Conservative leader Antonio Cánovas. He was known as an excellent orator.

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The Most Excellent Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
Prime Minister of Spain
In office 7 March 1901 – 10 December 1902
Monarch	Alfonso XIII
Preceded by	Marcelo Azcárraga
Succeeded by	Francisco Silvela
In office 5 October 1897 – 7 March 1899
Monarch	Alfonso XIII
Preceded by	Marcelo Azcárraga
Succeeded by	Francisco Silvela
In office 13 December 1892 – 24 March 1895
Monarch	Alfonso XIII
Preceded by	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Succeeded by	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
In office 28 November 1885 – 8 July 1890
Monarchs	Vacant Alfonso XIII (born 17 May 1886)
Preceded by	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Succeeded by	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
In office 10 February 1881 – 14 October 1883
Monarch	Alfonso XII
Preceded by	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
Succeeded by	José Posada Herrera
In office 29 June 1874 – 31 December 1874
President	Francisco Serrano
Preceded by	Juan de Zavala
Succeeded by	Antonio Cánovas del Castillo
In office 21 December 1871 – 26 May 1872
Monarch	Amadeo I
Preceded by	José Malcampo
Succeeded by	Francisco Serrano
Personal details
Born	(1825-07-21)21 July 1825 Torrecilla en Cameros, Logroño, Spain
Died	(1903-01-05)5 January 1903 (aged 77) Madrid, Spain
Resting place	Pantheon of Illustrious Men
Political party	Liberal Party
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Mateo Sagasta was born on 21 July 1825 at Torrecilla en Cameros, province of Logroño, Spain. As a member of the Progressive Party while a student at the Civil Engineering School of Madrid in 1848, Sagasta was the only one in the school who refused to sign a letter supporting Queen Isabel II.

After his studies, he took an active role in government. Sagasta served in the Spanish Cortes between 1854–1857 and 1858–1863. In 1866 he went into exile in France after a failed coup. After the Spanish Revolution of 1868, he returned to Spain to take part in the newly created provisional government.

He served as Prime Minister of Spain during the Spanish–American War of 1898 when Spain lost its remaining colonies. Mateo Sagasta agreed to an autonomous constitution for both Cuba and Puerto Rico. Mateo Sagasta's political opponents saw his action as a betrayal of Spain and blamed him for the country's defeat in the war and the loss of its island territories in the Treaty of Paris of 1898. He continued to be active in politics for another four years.

Mateo Sagasta's ministry lost a vote in the Cortes on 2 December 1902, he handed in his resignation to the King on the following day, and formally resigned on 10 December 1902.^[1]

Mateo Sagasta died just a month after his last resignation, on 5 January 1903 in Madrid at the age of 77.^[2]

• Regency of Maria Christina of Austria
• Reign of Alfonso XIII