For contemporary Europeans, knowing India implies being aware of certain facts – e.g., its society is home to diverse religions and a caste system. The project will focus on the Low Countries in the period between 1780 and 1960 to find out how a set of ideas about India crystallized into ‘knowledge’ now presumed to be factual and veridical. While a variety of ideas regarding India circulated here in the 18th century, a standard account appears to have gained dominance by the late 19th century. Did this happen because of accumulation of more accurate knowledge or because of an orientalist framework? The project takes another route: it explores a hypothesis that explains the process in terms of ‘cultural experience’ and the way in which Europeans as cultural beings have systematically experienced another culture. Its focus lies on texts intended to transmit factual information about India: encyclopedia’s, textbooks, travelogues, and periodicals.