Sète, formerly Cette [key], town (1990 pop. 41,916), Hérault dept., S France, in Languedoc, on the Mediterranean. It is one of the most important commercial and fishing ports of S France, a wine-shipping center, with major gasoline refineries and plants making clothes, liqueurs, and chemical products. The city is crossed by numerous canals, on which jousts by boat-borne combatants are held in summer. The old harbor was designed by Colbert in 1666 and built by Vauban and Riquet. Paul Valéry was born and is buried there. The town has a school of hydrography and a zoology station of the Univ. of Montpellier.
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