Manuel Antonio Martínez Murguía (17 May 1833 – 2 February 1923) was a Galician journalist and historian who created the Real Academia Galega.

Being at A Coruña, a child Manuel Murguía witnessed the liberal insurrection of locals against the central power on 23 April 1846.

After getting a great success, Murguía left his creative job and began a full-time work on historical research and its popularization.

Once his first daughter was born, Murguía published La Primera Luz (The First Light), a book of school texts about history and geography.

Murguía published important works, including Diccionario de escritores gallegos (Dictionary of Galician writers) in 1862.

In 1890, Murguía became the co-editor of La Patria Gallega (Galicia Native Country), a journal which included the first keys of the Galician nationalism.

One hundred years after he published the book Cantares Gallegos, in 1963, the date was commemorated with the Día das Letras Galegas (Galician Literature Day).