1. Maven is a build automation tool that manages Java projects and dependencies. It uses a pom.xml file to define build configuration including dependencies, plugins, and lifecycle phases. 2. A Maven project consists of goals bound to phases in a lifecycle. Common goals include compile, test, and package. Maven coordinates including groupId, artifactId, and version uniquely identify dependencies. 3. Maven downloads dependencies from repositories. It publishes artifacts to the local repository for sharing between projects. Artifacts include JAR files and pom.xml files.