Quark Mixing and CP Violation

We review the historical developments leading to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark mixing matrix. Present status of the CKM matrix from direct measurements is summarized, giving also the present profile of the unitarity triangle. CP Violation in the $K^0$ - $\overline{K^0}$ complex and in $B$-meson decays are discussed in the context of the CKM matrix.