  This is an introduction for algebraists to the theory of algebras and Hopf
algebras in braided categories. Such objects generalise super-algebras and
super-Hopf algebras, aswell as colour-Lie algebras. Basic facts about braided
categories C are recalled, the modules and comodules of Hopf algebras in such
categories are studied,the notion of `braided -commutative' or
`braided-cocommutative' Hopf algebras (braided groups) is reviewed and a fully
diagrammatic proof of the reconstruction theorem for a braided group aut(C) is
given. The theory has important implications for the theory of quasitriangular
Hopf algebras (quantum groups). It also includes important examples such as the
degenerate Sklyanin algebra and the quantum plane.
