  This article discusses the our changing knowledge of the evolution of AGN
from an optical perspective. It focusses on optically-unobscured (type-1) AGN
as it is much trickier to investigate the evolution type-2 objects from an
optical point of view. It discusses major optical survey work that improved our
knowledge of QSO evolution during the last five years. It touches on the shape
of the QSO luminosity function, on the peak of QSO activity, the quest for
reddened QSOs and spectral evolution. Finally, it summarizes recent advances in
the research of host galaxies, which probably hold the key for the triggering
mechanisms of the activity, and reiterates the difficulty of understanding the
physical evolution of AGN and its place in the context of galaxy evolution.
