In this chapter, categories are defined, and basic concepts are reviewed. Starting from the definitions of a category, a functor, and a natural transformation, the chapter reviews limits, adjunctions, equivalences, the Yoneda Lemma, monads, monoidal categories, and Mac Lane's Coherence Theorem. Enriched categories, which provide one characterization of 2-categories, are also discussed. This chapter makes this book self-contained and accessible to beginners.