Sett (pronounced "Sheth") is a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

surname, derived from "Shreshthi" (which means businessman in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

). Shreshthis were the oldest known businessmen in northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The name was changed to "Shethi" during the medieval period. After the arrival of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in India, the surname was anglicised to "Sheth" and later to "Sett". The Setts originally came from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

during the 15th century and settled in

Saptagram Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...

, Bengal and were engaged in primarily trading in cotton. In those days, Saptagram was a prosperous trading port in the East Indies and it was the Portuguese who were the predominant European merchants there. They used to call it "Porto Pequeno" or Little Haven and predated the British by more than 100 years. The Setts prospered and gradually started to blend into the Bengali culture. Gradual silting caused Saptagram to lose its importance and the Setts moved their business further down to Betor, which was in

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

, diagonally opposite

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

across the Ganges. While in Betor, they set up their residences in Gobindapur (present day

Dalhousie Square B. B. D. Bagh, formerly called Tank Square and then Dalhousie Square (1847 to 1856), is the shortened version for Benoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh. It is the seat of power of the state government, as well as the central business district of Kolkata in ...

in Calcutta). Those days, Gobindapur was a dense marshy jungle inhabited by wild animals. The Setts cleared the area and build their mansions over here. With the advent of the British, Dutch and other European traders, Betor was poised to be a major trading centre and the Setts became the dominating Indian merchants of the region.

Job Charnock Job Charnock (; –1692/1693) was an English administrator with the East India Company. He is commonly regarded as the founder of the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta); however, this view is challenged, and in 2003 the Calcutta High Court de ...

arrived from

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

towards the end of the 17th century and established a trading post. When the British decided to build a fort in Calcutta to protect their mercantile interest, they asked the inhabitants of Gobindapur to move further north into

Sutanuti Sutanuti was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Kalikata. See also * European colonies in India Colonial India was the part of th ...

. The Setts moved to Banstolla, present day Hariram Goenka Street,

Burrabazar Burrabazar (also spelt ''Bara Bazar'') is a neighbourhood of Central-North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Bazar Kolkata In between Sutanuti haat made way for Bazar Kolkata, some time in the 18th century. The ...

and resettled their family deity, 'Gobinda Jew" and built their dwellings around that. The Sett family temple and mansions are still there and stands testimony to the wealth and prosperity of the Setts. From different sources one gets the general idea that a major part of

belonged to the Setts. Calcutta is because of their endeavours and they are the lost founders of the city that went on to become the capital of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and made its place in history. {{surname, Sett