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Fans of The Sarasota News Leader's city edi- tor can hear his lectures on Florida's maritime history starting March 10 at the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus. The course will be offered by the Lifelong Learning Academy for a fee; it will be taught by Stan Zimmerman, a news release says. The instruction is provided on Monday morn- ings for eight weeks. The course will begin with an examination of the archeological record of the indigenous Floridians, trying to determine if they could have voyaged beyond the peninsula. Subsequent classes will exam- ine the repeated (and failed) attempts at colonization by the Spanish before a toehold was established in 1565 in St. Augustine. How did the Seminoles sustain their three wars against the U.S. government? What was the impact of the blockade imposed by the Union Navy on Confederate Florida? What role did the state play in the capture of America's first colonies, the paradigm leading to today's global hegemony? Was World War II really decided by naval action in Florida's tropical waters? And what was it like to be at Ground Zero in the world's closest (and, so far, only) brush with thermonuclear war? These are some of the questions Zimmerman will address as he covers the relationship of humanity, a sandy peninsula and the warm seas surrounding it over the centuries. For more information, the academy's tele- phone number is 359-4296, and the website is LLA-SM.org. FLORIDA MARITIME HISTORY COURSE OFFERED BY ZIMMERMAN Florida as it appeared to the Spanish explorers in 1562, three years before the founding of St. Augustine. Image courtesy U.S. Library of Congress Sarasota News Leader February 28, 2014 Page 77