The term "Kuki" is an exonym: it was used by Bengalis to refer to the tribes inhabiting Patkai–Arakan Yomas, the eastern extension of the Himalayas running north–south between India and Myanmar.

[10] The Tibetan Buddhist writer Taranatha (1575–1634) wrote a description of the Kuki (Ko-ki) country, including in it almost the entire eastern hill range and beyond.

An Intelligence Branch report from 1907 listed Ralte, Paite, Thadou, Lakher, Hmar and Poi tribes among Kukis.

[24][25][2] Ethnologist C. A. Soppitt argued that the Kuki tribes must have settled in region west of Irrawaddy river from before the 11th century, based on the fact that they had no traces of Buddhism, which was already prevalent in Burma by that time.

[28] Soppitt suggested that, by the 16th century, the Hrangkhols and Biate inhabited the Lushai Hills region (currently divided between Mizoram and Chin State).

[34] Cheitharol Kumbaba, the court chronicle of the Manipur kings, mentions various Kuki tribes and clans from 1404 onwards.

[19] The largest of the Kuki tribes, the Thadous, lived in the southern hills of the present-day Manipur, which was ungoverned territory for most of the historical period.

The Manipur ruler Ching-Thang Khomba (also known as Bhagyachandra and Jai Singh) made war on this region in 1786, and subjugated the Kuki chieftain in the central village.

[20] The scholars of Kuki Research Forum consider the terminology misleading because the historical record does not justify such a progression in time.

British Commissioner Pemberton wrote in 1835 that the Khongjais stretched along the hills from the south of the Manipur valley to the Arakan Mountains.

[41] British Residents, William McCulloch (1844–1863) and Colonel Johnstone (1877–1886), wrote that Khongjais had long been subjects of Manipur, but "new immigrants" of them came through between 1830 and 1840.

[42][43] Scholar Pum Khan Pau notes that, around 1830, when the British established a political agency in Manipur, the area to the south of present-day Manipur (Tonzang and Tedim townships of present-day Chin State) witnessed the rise of a powerful Sukte chieftain called Khan Thuam.

The combined tribe earned the name "Kamhau-Sukte" and became "one of the most dreaded powers in Manipur, Lushai Hills and the Kale-Kabaw Valley".

McCulloch arranged for a line of Kuki settlements to the south of their area to serve as a buffer and armed the settlers.

[50] In addition, some of the larger tribes such as Thadous are said to have been native to the southern hills (Churachandpur and Chandel districts) that were later added to Manipur territory in the 1890s.

Whilst the Kukis abducted 700 women, Munshi Abdul Ali informed the British authorities of the atrocities.

British troops and policemen were finally despatched from Noakhali, Tipperah (Comilla) and Chittagong to suppress them but the Kukis had already fled to the jungles of the princely state and they never returned to Chhagalnaiya ever again.

The best students were recommended to the King's or the Chief's service, and eventually would achieve the office of Semang and Pachong (ministers) in their courts, or gal –lamkai (leaders, warriors) in the army.

[63] Lawm (a traditional type of youth club) was an institution in which boys and girls engaged in social activities for the benefit of the individual and the community.

[64] Prior to conversion in the early 20th century to Christianity by Welsh Baptist missionaries, the Chin, Kuki, and Mizo peoples were animists; among their practices were ritual headhunting.

The Bnei Menashe (Hebrew: בני מנשה, "Sons of Menasseh") are a small group within India's North-Eastern border states of Manipur and Mizoram; since the late 20th century, they claim descent from one of the Lost Tribes of Israel and have adopted the practice of Judaism.

[68] The Bnei Menashe are made up of Mizo, Kuki and Chin peoples, who all speak Tibeto-Burman languages, and whose ancestors migrated into northeast India from Burma mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In the late 20th century, an Israeli rabbi investigating their claims named them Bnei Menashe, based on their account of descent from Menasseh.

Of the 3.7 million people living in these two northeast states only about 9,000 belong to the Bnei Menashe, several thousands have emigrated to Israel.

[citation needed] Due to the close proximity to Muslim-majority Bengal, a Kuki Muslim community has also developed.