An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or a region of Earth.

Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic features and political boundaries, many atlases often feature geopolitical, social, religious and economic statistics. They also have information about the map and places in it.

Etymology

The concept and genre of atlas, in its modern sense, was the brainchild and one of the pioneering contributions of early modern Netherlandish cartographers, geographers and cosmographers; most notably Gerardus Mercator (who first used the term 'atlas' for a collection of maps) and Abraham Ortelius (who often recognized as the creator of the first true atlas in the modern sense). The use of the word "atlas" in a geographical context dates from 1595 when the German-Flemish geographer Gerardus Mercator…Read more on Wikipedia