Manuel Becerra Bermúdez

Manuel Becerra Bermúdez (20 October 1820 – 19 December 1896) was a Spanish politician, mathematician and revolutionary. A Republican who would later embrace monarchism, he went on to assume the ministerial portfolios of Overseas and Development during the Sexenio Democrático, returning for two additional spells as Overseas minister during the regency of Maria Christina of Austria.

Biography Early life and revolutionary activity Born in Santa María del Otero, Castro de Rey, province of Lugo, on 20 October 1820. Son to a math teacher, he did not complete studies in Engineering. He received however substantial teaching in Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy from and founded a reputed Academy of Mathematics in Madrid.

A defender of Republicanism in his early life, he took part in the , One of the founders of the Democratic–Progressive Party (best known as Democratic Party) in 1849, he also took part in the 1854 revolts, battling in the streets of Madrid, and was forced to exile.

Sexenio democrático

After the 1868 Glorious Revolution, Becerra became a member of the Junta Superior Revolucionaria. Along Nicolás María Rivero and Cristino Martos he would become one of the leaders of the so-called , the monarchist democrats part of the 1868–1871 Provisional Government.

In July 1869, during the Regency of Marshal Serrano, he was appointed as Minister of Overseas. A founding member of the Spanish Abolitionist Society back in 1864, he took measures during his first ministerial tenure towards the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico, presenting two proposals in 1869, which were not welcomed either by his cabinet peers or from the parliament. After months of fierce resistance to the ministerial initiatives from pro-slavery legislators such as Antonio Cánovas del Castillo or Francisco Romero Robledo, Becerra was forced to resign in March 1870 amid intense pressure.

Already entered the reign of Amadeo, during the premiership of Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Becerra was appointed as Minister of Development in December 1872, replacing José Echegaray. On 11 February 1873, in a vote at the Cortes during the same session in which the declaration of the First Republic was proclaimed, he was confirmed as Minister of Development (with 266 votes in favour). He would however leave the ministry by late February. reading a discourse titled Evolución de la Matemática e influencia que en los progresos de esta ciencia ejerció la civilización árabe ("Evolution of Mathematics and the influence of the Arab civilization on the progress of this science"), replied by Eduardo Saavedra.

Becerra returned to the ministry of Overseas in two occasions: from December 1888 to January 1890 and from March 1894 to November 1894, as part of cabinets presided by Sagasta.

He died on 19 December 1896 at his address in the in Madrid; he was apparently drinking a glass of milk, and, as it slipped out of his hand, after a sigh, he died. He was buried at the on the next day.