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Buddhism is the way of life taught by a man who lived about 2,500 years ago in India, Siddhattha Gotama, who set out to relieve human suffering, and had a deep insight into the ways in which we make ourselves suffer. It is sometimes called a religion but whether it is a religion depends on how you define the word -- if your definition requires a belief in deities or things beyond human understanding, then Buddhism is not really a religion (though some of its varieties do incorporate these; they are additions, not the core teachings). If you accept William James definition (see below) then Buddhism is a religion.
"Were one asked to characterize the life of religion in the broadest and most general terms possible, one might say that it consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto." -- William James, Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902.
