The name of the state comes from an indigenous word of Cumanagoto (Caribbean) origin, which is used to refer to the Chaguaramo, a type of palm from the region [quotation required] However, according to Carlos Blanco Galeno, a chronicler from Turmero, it derives from the Cariban aregua, and this de are ('site') and gua which in turn derives from ogun ('my thing'), so it would mean 'my place, my country'.

[citation needed] The land where the city of Maracay is located today was granted to Sebastián Díaz Alfaro in the 16th century.

By the year 1700 about 40 families inhabited the valley, which went to Bishop Diego de Baños y Sotomayor to choose a parish, which was equivalent to giving consistency to the official population center.

Maracay suffered the vicissitudes of the emancipatory revolution, being of special interest the events of 1812-13 that took place at the La Trinidad hacienda.

By 1780 La Victoria was a town with about 800 Indians who only spoke Spanish and more than 4 thousand people from other groups, including Spaniards, Creoles, mestizos, blacks and Zambos.

Alexander von Humboldt referred to the fact that the population by 1800 in the area of the valleys of Aragua - which at that time included both sides of Lake Valencia - was mostly composed of brown and creole people, apart from zambos and slaves and that there were still approximately 5000 registered Indians, most of whom were concentrated in Turmero and Guacara.

Aragua was created as a province on February 11, 1848 when it was separated from that of Caracas, with a territory similar to that which today encompasses the current state of Aragua and composed of La Victoria, Turmero, Maracay, Villa de Cura and San Sebastian, having the city of La Victoria as its capital.

Finally in 1899 Aragua recovered its status as an autonomous state In 1917 its capital was moved from La Victoria to Maracay.

Aragua borders the Caribbean Sea to the north, with its coastline backed by the fast-rising central Cordillera mountain range.

Much of the rest of the state is made up of fertile valleys used for intensive agriculture, apart from in the extreme south where the flats of the central Llanos region begin.

The maritime coast of the state extends from Turiamo Bay in the west to Puerto Maya in the east, corresponding to the central section of the Coastal Range.

One of the largest reliefs in the world crosses the state of Aragua, in an east-west direction, two parallel mountain ranges, separated from each other by a central depression, which determines the existence of three well-differentiated physiographic regions, which follow each other from north to south.

Due to its diversity in relief and altitudes that it possesses in all its extension, there are different thermal floors in which the temperature tends to have different climatic characteristics and temperatures that decrease with the increase of the altitude, in the coastal strip dominates a semi-arid and warm climate, as it is evidenced in Turiamo and Puerto Maya, Although orographic rainfall occurs at elevations on the northern flank of the Serranía de Litoral, allowing for cooler and more humid conditions, which make possible the formation of cloud forests in the Henri Pittier National Park, local conditions allow for greater humidity and warmer temperatures in some coastal coves, such as Chuao, Choroní and Ocumare, which are used in traditional cocoa plantations.

At the altitudes of the Coastal Range, an isothermal climate is expressed, reaching in Colonia Tovar, at 1,900 meters above sea level, an average annual temperature of only 15.4 °C and rainfall of 1,000 mm per year.

The lands of the valleys of Aragua are rich in minerals, as well as fertile; even the mountainous areas are suitable for certain types of crops.

This Constitution can only be reformed totally or partially by the legislative power of Aragua, and to be approved, they need the absolute majority of the state deputies.

[citation needed] In the state there are small towns like Colonia Tovar, Magdaleno, La Villa, Tocorón, Palo Negro, among others.

The state of Aragua is famous within Venezuela especially for the variety and beauty of its beaches, natural monuments, extensive green areas and for the Colonia Tovar, a territory colonized by the Germans.

The Tigres de Aragua, a team of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League, represents the state and plays in Maracay.