This chapter introduces the foundations, evolution, and motivation for advanced palmprint recognition as a promising biometric authentication modality. It begins by situating palmprint recognition within the broader context of biometric technologies, highlighting its favorable balance of distinctiveness, robustness, user acceptability, and anti-spoofing capability when compared with other traits. The chapter then explores the diverse types of discriminative features present in palmprints. Following this, the historical development of palmprint recognition is discussed, tracing its progress from traditional methods under controlled settings to modern, scalable, and learning-based approaches. Particular emphasis is placed on the shift robust contact-based systems, unconstrained contactless and multimodal sensing environments, as well as the challenges posed by real-world deployment. The chapter concludes by articulating the need for advanced palmprint recognition, which encompasses not only enhanced algorithmic performance but also innovations in sensing, feature modeling, and system integration to meet the demands of large-scale, unconstrained, and security-critical applications.