A bump map is very much like a texture map. However, rather than containing colours, it contains bumps. The most common way to represent bumps is by the height field method. A greyscaled texture map is used, where the brightness of each pixel represents how much it sticks out from the surface (see image on right). This is a very convenient way to store a bump map, and it's simple to make. How this information is used by the renderer will become apparent later.
Of course, you needn't limit yourself to such simple patterns. You can have wood, stone, peeling paint, anything you want.