In this paper a highly abstracted view on the historical development of
Genetic Algorithms for the Traveling Salesman Problem is given. In a meta-data
analysis three phases in the development can be distinguished. First
exponential growth in interest till 1996 can be observed, growth stays linear
till 2011 and after that publications deteriorate. These three phases are
examined and the major milestones are presented. Lastly an outlook to future
work in this field is infered.