Its current name (which means "new valley" in Basque) honors José Silvestre Aramberri, a general known for his involvement in the Reform War.

It borders the municipalities of Galeana and Iturbide to north, Doctor Arroyo to west and southwest, General Zaragoza to south and with state of Tamaulipas to east.

The first Spanish settlement in the area took place in 1626, when friar Lorenzo Cantú, established a mission in which is now the municipal seat of Aramberri, in order to evangelize and pacificate the nomadic tribes of Native Americans called Negritos or Bozalos and Janambres, which inhabited until its extinction in what is now Southern Nuevo León and Southeastern Tamaulipas.

A kindergarten in El Yerbaniz, Aramberri, home to thirty families, won MXN $20 million in the September 15, 2020 raffle of the presidential airplane.

The media published exaggerated reports claiming it was 25 m (80 ft) long, and weighed up to 150,000 kg, which would have made it the largest predator of all time.