Livingston is named after American jurist and politician
Edward Livingston, who wrote the
Livingston Codes, which - translated into Spanish by liberal leader
José Francisco Barrundia - were used as the basis for the laws of the liberal government of the
United Provinces of Central America in the early 19th century. However, this government did not come to fruition in Guatemala, because of the conservative and clerical revolution led by
Rafael Carrera in 1838 that overthrew governor
Mariano Gálvez and gave way to a conservative and Catholic regime that lasted until 1871.
Franja Transversal del Norte In the 1960s, the importance of the region known as Franja Transversal del Norte was in livestock, exploitation of precious export wood and archaeological wealth. Timber contracts were granted to multinational companies, such as Murphy Pacific Corporation from California, which invested US$30 million for the colonization of southern
Peten and
Alta Verapaz and formed the North Impulsadora Company. Colonization of the area was made through a process by which inhospitable areas of the Franja Transversal del Norte (FTN) were granted to native peasants. In 1964, the National Institute for Agrarian Transformation (INTA) defined the geography of the FTN as the northern part of the departments of Huehuetenango, Quiché, Alta Verapaz and Izabal and that same year priests of the
Maryknoll order and the Order of the Sacred Heart began the first process of colonization, along with INTA, carrying settlers from Huehuetenango to the
Ixcán sector in Quiché. The Northern Transversal Strip was officially created during the government of General
Carlos Arana Osorio in 1970, by Decree 60-70 in the Congress, for agricultural development. The area included within the municipalities:
Santa Ana Huista,
San Antonio Huista,
Nentón,
Jacaltenango,
San Mateo Ixtatán, and
Santa Cruz Barillas in
Huehuetenango;
Chajul and
Uspantán in Quiché;
Cobán,
Chisec,
San Pedro Carchá,
Lanquín,
Senahú,
Cahabón and
Chahal, in Alta Verapaz and the entire department of
Izabal. == Economy ==