diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 74e642288..1560c5bd9 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ First and foremost thanks to anyone who contributes, very much appreciated.
 
 
 ## Guidelines
-- Need to maintain compatibility with Java 1.6 (and Android). Therefore any attempt to migrate to 1.6 JDKs and above will not be merged back in.
+- The minimum supported Java version is **1.8**. Please keep source/target compatibility at Java 1.8 and avoid APIs introduced in later JDKs. This baseline was raised from 1.6 so the project can stay on maintained dependency versions (for example `snakeyaml` 2.x, which requires Java 8+). Android is still supported on API levels that provide Java 8 language features (via desugaring), so no Android-specific artifact/classifier is required anymore.
 
 - If you add new faker classes like `Address`, `Country`, and `Number` they should be accompanied by a unit test. Where relevant please add more assertions to the `com.github.javafaker.integration.FakerIT` class.
 - If you add a new faker class, update the `README.md`.
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ First and foremost thanks to anyone who contributes, very much appreciated.
 ## Building
 
 - Should be as easy as running `mvn clean install` on the root directory
+- Requires a JDK 8 or newer to build
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d1385324e..1d211c9fd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ Java Faker
 This library is a port of Ruby's [faker](https://github.com/stympy/faker) gem (as well as Perl's Data::Faker library) that generates fake data.
 It's useful when you're developing a new project and need some pretty data for showcase.
 
+Requirements
+-----
+* Java 1.8 or newer.
+* Android is supported on API levels that enable Java 8 language features (via [desugaring](https://developer.android.com/studio/write/java8-support)).
+
 Usage
 -----
 In pom.xml, add the following xml stanza between `<dependencies> ... </dependencies>`
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f936524bc..d9aa49f23 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -53,8 +53,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.yaml</groupId>
             <artifactId>snakeyaml</artifactId>
-            <version>1.26</version>
-            <classifier>android</classifier>
+            <version>2.4</version>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.github.mifmif</groupId>
@@ -112,8 +111,8 @@
 					<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
 					<version>3.7.0</version>
 					<configuration>
-						<source>1.6</source>
-						<target>1.6</target>
+						<source>1.8</source>
+						<target>1.8</target>
 					</configuration>
 				</plugin>
                 <plugin>
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/github/javafaker/service/FakeValuesTest.java b/src/test/java/com/github/javafaker/service/FakeValuesTest.java
index 1710efe6e..7f8948f3e 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/github/javafaker/service/FakeValuesTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/github/javafaker/service/FakeValuesTest.java
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
+import java.util.Map;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
@@ -58,4 +60,30 @@ public void getAValueFromALocaleThatCantBeLoaded() {
         assertThat(fakeValues.get(PATH), is(nullValue()));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void getReturnsAMapForALoadedPath() {
+        assertThat(fakeValues.get(PATH), is(instanceOf(Map.class)));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void yamlSequencesAreLoadedAsLists() {
+        Map<String, Object> address = (Map<String, Object>) fakeValues.get(PATH);
+        Object cityPrefix = address.get("city_prefix");
+        assertThat(cityPrefix, is(instanceOf(List.class)));
+        assertThat((List<String>) cityPrefix, hasItem("North"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void nestedYamlMappingsAreLoadedAsMaps() {
+        Map<String, Object> address = (Map<String, Object>) fakeValues.get(PATH);
+        Object countryByCode = address.get("country_by_code");
+        assertThat(countryByCode, is(instanceOf(Map.class)));
+        assertThat((Map<String, String>) countryByCode, hasEntry("AF", "Afghanistan"));
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void getIsCachedAcrossInvocations() {
+        assertThat(fakeValues.get(PATH), is(sameInstance(fakeValues.get(PATH))));
+    }
+
 }