[R-sig-Geo] locate a point

[Shelob1985 at libero.it]

>Hi everybody. I have a very elementary question but any help is appreciated.
>I have a database which contains the indication of latitude and 
>longitude of, say, South American mineral ores. I have to find out in which 
country 
>of South America each mineral ore is located. There are certainly maps of 
South America with the indication of states boundaries which can be 
read and drawn by R. Is there any way I can use R to assign each data point 
to the country in which it falls? 
Thanks, 
Sheila