''Korobeinik'' () was an occupation in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, a petty

peddler A peddler (American English) or pedlar (British English) is a door-to-door and/or travelling vendor of good (economics), goods. In 19th-century United States the word "drummer" was often used to refer to a peddler or traveling salesman; as exem ...

. The name comes from the word ''korob'', a box, in which he carried the goods, usually

haberdashery __NOTOC__ In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a men's clothing store ...

and small manufactured items around the countryside.

In popular culture

There is a Russian folk song "

Korobeiniki "Korobeiniki" () is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song that tells the story of a meeting between a '' korobeinik'' (peddler) and a girl, describing their haggling over goods in a metaphor for seduction. Outside Russia, "Korobeiniki" is wide ...

" based on the poem of the same name by

Nikolay Nekrasov Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov ( rus, Никола́й Алексе́евич Некра́сов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪtɕ nʲɪˈkrasəf, a=Ru-Nikolay_Alexeyevich_Nekrasov.ogg, – ) was a Russian poet, writer, critic and publ ...

. In 1910

Vasily Goncharov Vasily Mikhailovich Goncharov () (1861 – 23 August 1915) was a Russian film director and screenwriter, one of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Euras ...

made a 15 min. based on the poem.

References

{{reflist Culture of Russia Obsolete occupations Sales occupations Economic history of Russia