Can it be tin?

Despite the name, tin cans are basically made of steel.

The discovery in 1810 by British engineer Peter Durand that a thin coating of tin on the inside of an airtight steel can could preserve the contents created a revolution in food packaging.

Tin isn't toxic and doesn't corrode.

Lighter, recyclable aluminum cans are slowly taking over, but tin is still in demand for electronics where it is used in the solder that ensures good electrical connections.

Tin mixed with copper produces malleable bronze used in Indonesia to make handicrafts and gamelan gongs.

The Dutch moved thousands of Chinese laborers to Bangka to exploit the tin. Their descendants now form 12 percent of the population - a proportion four times higher than in Java.

Race relations on Bangka are said to be so good that some Chinese businesspeople in Jakarta keep homes on Bangka as a safe refuge in case riots erupt again in the capital as they did in 1998.

- JP/Duncan Graham