Emilio Castelar y Ripoll (7 September 1832 – 25 May 1899) was a Spanish republican politician, and a president of the First Spanish Republic. Castelar was born in Cádiz. He was an eloquent orator and a writer. Appointed as Head of State in 1873 in the midst of the Third Carlist War and having been given full powers by the Parliament, he ruled by decree. He left office after Pavia's coup d'état the following year. He wrote a history of the Republican Movement in Europe among other works of political interest.