The first contribution of this EMS volume on complex algebraic geometry touches upon many of the central problems in this vast and very active area of current research. While it is much too short to provide complete coverage of this subject, it provides a succinct summary of the areas it covers, while providing in-depth coverage of certain very important fields.The second part provides a brief and lucid introduction to the recent work on the interactions between the classical area of the geometry of complex algebraic curves and their Jacobian varieties, and partial differential equations of mathematical physics. The paper discusses the work of Mumford, Novikov, Krichever, and Shiota, and would be an excellent companion to the older classics on the subject.