This paper focuses on transmission and absorption of geographical, astronomical, and cultural knowledge about the Indian Ocean in the pre-modern Arab world. Medieval Arabic sources offer information regarding both practical and academic learning, especially as it pertains to the western Indian Ocean. However, fewer works combine geographical knowledge with awareness of the societies on the Indian Ocean rim and of their culture. Even fewer articulate the value of such awareness, information and cultural attitudes to the practical need of applying their knowledge to task. Some of the stories of the 10th century compendium The Wonders of India made it into the tales of Sindbad the Sailor in the Arabian Nights, while the famous Arab navigator Ahmad ibn Majid (late 15th century) inserted brief comments on local societies in his descriptions of the oceanic routes from the Red Sea to Eastern Arabia, from India to southeast Asia, and from Gujarat to East Africa and Madagascar. From the semi-fantastic stories of the former to the supremely practical sailing instructions of the latter, a large gap exists in the sources and inn our understanding of how the educated traveler and the sailor saw the same coast and the same society. Among classical Arab geographers and cosmographers few explored the Indian Ocean littoral (an important early exception is al-Mas`udi). However, travelers like Ibn Battuta (14th century) left rich narratives of intercultural experience that allow us to trace some of the routes or channels of transmission of the knowledge both scientific and cultural. An attempt will be made also to identify the cultural and intellectual attitudes which facilitated or prejudiced the bridging of information and ideas between the world of Islam and other civilizations.