React Native is a JavaScript framework that allows developers to build mobile apps for Android and iOS using a single codebase. It was created by Facebook in 2015 for internal use and has since become popular for its cross-platform capabilities. React Native allows businesses to develop higher quality, faster loading mobile apps at a lower cost compared to native development. Performance optimization techniques for React Native apps include removing unnecessary logging, ensuring animations run at 60 frames per second, delaying heavy calculations, using FlatLists over ScrollViews, and compressing large files.