The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1978. It has a 16-bit external data bus and 20-bit address bus, can access up to 1 MB of memory, and has 14 general purpose 16-bit registers. The 8086 architecture consists of a Bus Interface Unit which handles memory access and I/O, and an Execution Unit which decodes and executes instructions. It supports two operating modes - minimum and maximum - which determine clock speed and timing.