  Strangeness production has long been proposed as a diagnostic tool for
understanding the dynamics of relativistic heavy ion collisions. In this
presentation we review the traditional picture of strangeness enhancement as a
signature for quark-gluon plasma formation. We then review, in order, some
experimental data on strange particle production in $e^{+}e^{-}$, $pp$,
$p\bar{p}$, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. This is not a
comprehensive review, but rather an emphasis of a few significant points. Any
clear interpretation of strange particle yields measured in heavy ion reactions
is impossible without a physical understanding of the production mechanisms in
elementary particle collisions.
