Kuba, former African kingdom in the interior of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, bounded to the southwest by the Kasai and Lulua rivers and to the north by the Sankuru River, a tributary of the Kasai. Founded about 1600 by migrants from the lower Kasai River, it was actually a federation of smaller, nearly autonomous states such as the Bushongo and the Ngongo.
In the 19th century, rebellions in the east and Lulua invasions in the south weakened Kuba to the point of civil war. About 1910 the colonial regime of the Belgian Congo extended its control over the area and quelled the disorders, strengthening the Kuba kings by excluding lesser officials and rivals.