Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform developed from Google's experiences with Borg and Omega, designed for deploying and managing workloads in a cloud-native environment. It provides a uniform interface for resource allocation, dynamic scaling, and self-healing capabilities, while supporting stateless and stateful applications with features like autoscaling and service discovery. The architecture consists of a control plane and node components managing pods, services, and networking, allowing for efficient resource utilization and management across various environments.