diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index d34a80c..1a21574 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         platform: [ubuntu-latest, macos-latest, windows-latest]
-        python-version: [3.8, 3.9, "3.10", 3.11, 3.12, 3.13]
+        python-version: [3.9, "3.10", 3.11, 3.12, 3.13]
 
     name: Python ${{ matrix.python-version }} on ${{ matrix.platform }}
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.platform }}
diff --git a/HISTORY.rst b/HISTORY.rst
index 67a755a..2ff32b2 100644
--- a/HISTORY.rst
+++ b/HISTORY.rst
@@ -7,8 +7,12 @@ History
 4.9.0
 ++++++++++++++++++
 
+* IMPORTANT: Python 3.9 or greater is required. If you are using an older
+  version, please use an earlier release.
 * ``metro_code`` on ``geoip2.record.Location`` has been deprecated. The
   code values are no longer being maintained.
+* The type hinting for the optional ``locales`` keyword argument now allows
+  any sequence of strings rather than only list of strings.
 
 4.8.1 (2024-11-18)
 ++++++++++++++++++
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index e1e8913..11d1f14 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ correction, please `contact MaxMind support
 Requirements
 ------------
 
-Python 3.8 or greater is required. Older versions are not supported.
+Python 3.9 or greater is required. Older versions are not supported.
 
 The Requests HTTP library is also required. See
 <https://pypi.org/project/requests/> for details.
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 3989a98..e8526e9 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 
 # General information about the project.
 project = "geoip2"
-copyright = "2013-2024, MaxMind, Inc."
+copyright = "2013-2025, MaxMind, Inc."
 
 # The version info for the project you're documenting, acts as replacement for
 # |version| and |release|, also used in various other places throughout the
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 1233f20..a6b91ba 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -38,6 +38,6 @@ Indices and tables
 * :ref:`modindex`
 * :ref:`search`
 
-:copyright: (c) 2013-2024 by MaxMind, Inc.
+:copyright: (c) 2013-2025 by MaxMind, Inc.
 :license: Apache License, Version 2.0
 
diff --git a/geoip2/__init__.py b/geoip2/__init__.py
index 7d1a8ad..43c322a 100644
--- a/geoip2/__init__.py
+++ b/geoip2/__init__.py
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@
 __version__ = "4.8.1"
 __author__ = "Gregory Oschwald"
 __license__ = "Apache License, Version 2.0"
-__copyright__ = "Copyright (c) 2013-2024 MaxMind, Inc."
+__copyright__ = "Copyright (c) 2013-2025 MaxMind, Inc."
diff --git a/geoip2/database.py b/geoip2/database.py
index d86b6ec..ab98507 100644
--- a/geoip2/database.py
+++ b/geoip2/database.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 
 import inspect
 import os
-from typing import Any, AnyStr, cast, IO, List, Optional, Type, Union
+from typing import Any, AnyStr, cast, IO, Optional, Sequence, Type, Union
 
 import maxminddb
 
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class Reader:
     def __init__(
         self,
         fileish: Union[AnyStr, int, os.PathLike, IO],
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         mode: int = MODE_AUTO,
     ) -> None:
         """Create GeoIP2 Reader.
diff --git a/geoip2/models.py b/geoip2/models.py
index 66c1871..693a305 100644
--- a/geoip2/models.py
+++ b/geoip2/models.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 # pylint: disable=too-many-instance-attributes,too-few-public-methods
 import ipaddress
 from abc import ABCMeta
-from typing import Any, cast, Dict, List, Optional, Union
+from typing import Any, cast, Dict, Optional, Sequence, Union
 
 import geoip2.records
 from geoip2.mixins import SimpleEquality
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ class Country(SimpleEquality):
     traits: geoip2.records.Traits
 
     def __init__(
-        self, raw_response: Dict[str, Any], locales: Optional[List[str]] = None
+        self, raw_response: Dict[str, Any], locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None
     ) -> None:
         if locales is None:
             locales = ["en"]
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ class City(Country):
     subdivisions: geoip2.records.Subdivisions
 
     def __init__(
-        self, raw_response: Dict[str, Any], locales: Optional[List[str]] = None
+        self, raw_response: Dict[str, Any], locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None
     ) -> None:
         super().__init__(raw_response, locales)
         self.city = geoip2.records.City(locales, **raw_response.get("city", {}))
diff --git a/geoip2/records.py b/geoip2/records.py
index d6bb61e..4481a70 100644
--- a/geoip2/records.py
+++ b/geoip2/records.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 # pylint:disable=R0903
 from abc import ABCMeta
-from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Type, Union
+from typing import Dict, Optional, Type, Sequence, Union
 
 from geoip2.mixins import SimpleEquality
 
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ class PlaceRecord(Record, metaclass=ABCMeta):
     """All records with :py:attr:`names` subclass :py:class:`PlaceRecord`."""
 
     names: Dict[str, str]
-    _locales: List[str]
+    _locales: Sequence[str]
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         names: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
     ) -> None:
         if locales is None:
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ class City(PlaceRecord):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         confidence: Optional[int] = None,
         geoname_id: Optional[int] = None,
         names: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ class Continent(PlaceRecord):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         code: Optional[str] = None,
         geoname_id: Optional[int] = None,
         names: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ class Country(PlaceRecord):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         confidence: Optional[int] = None,
         geoname_id: Optional[int] = None,
         is_in_european_union: bool = False,
@@ -298,7 +298,7 @@ class RepresentedCountry(Country):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         confidence: Optional[int] = None,
         geoname_id: Optional[int] = None,
         is_in_european_union: bool = False,
@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ class Subdivision(PlaceRecord):
 
     def __init__(
         self,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         confidence: Optional[int] = None,
         geoname_id: Optional[int] = None,
         iso_code: Optional[str] = None,
@@ -545,14 +545,14 @@ class Subdivisions(tuple):
     """
 
     def __new__(
-        cls: Type["Subdivisions"], locales: Optional[List[str]], *subdivisions
+        cls: Type["Subdivisions"], locales: Optional[Sequence[str]], *subdivisions
     ) -> "Subdivisions":
         subobjs = tuple(Subdivision(locales, **x) for x in subdivisions)
         obj = super().__new__(cls, subobjs)  # type: ignore
         return obj
 
     def __init__(
-        self, locales: Optional[List[str]], *subdivisions  # pylint:disable=W0613
+        self, locales: Optional[Sequence[str]], *subdivisions  # pylint:disable=W0613
     ) -> None:
         self._locales = locales
         super().__init__()
diff --git a/geoip2/webservice.py b/geoip2/webservice.py
index 5ff3098..b390e94 100644
--- a/geoip2/webservice.py
+++ b/geoip2/webservice.py
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@
 
 import ipaddress
 import json
-from typing import Any, Dict, cast, List, Optional, Type, Union
+from typing import Any, Dict, cast, Optional, Sequence, Type, Union
 
 import aiohttp
 import aiohttp.http
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class BaseClient:  # pylint: disable=missing-class-docstring, too-few-public-met
     _account_id: str
     _host: str
     _license_key: str
-    _locales: List[str]
+    _locales: Sequence[str]
     _timeout: float
 
     def __init__(
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def __init__(
         account_id: int,
         license_key: str,
         host: str,
-        locales: Optional[List[str]],
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]],
         timeout: float,
     ) -> None:
         """Construct a Client."""
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ def __init__(  # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments,too-many-positional-argument
         account_id: int,
         license_key: str,
         host: str = "geoip.maxmind.com",
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         timeout: float = 60,
         proxy: Optional[str] = None,
     ) -> None:
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ def __init__(  # pylint: disable=too-many-arguments,too-many-positional-argument
         account_id: int,
         license_key: str,
         host: str = "geoip.maxmind.com",
-        locales: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        locales: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
         timeout: float = 60,
         proxy: Optional[str] = None,
     ) -> None:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 04a27d0..d55b892 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "maxminddb>=2.5.1,<3.0.0",
     "requests>=2.24.0,<3.0.0",
 ]
-requires-python = ">=3.8"
+requires-python = ">=3.9"
 readme = "README.rst"
 license = {text = "Apache License, Version 2.0"}
 classifiers = [
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ classifiers = [
     "License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License",
     "Programming Language :: Python",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
-    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10",
     "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11",
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index fe10141..6f275ef 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -9,11 +9,10 @@ geoip2 = py.typed
 disable = duplicate-code
 
 [tox:tox]
-envlist = {py38,py39,py310,py311,py312,py313}-test,py313-{black,lint,flake8,mypy}
+envlist = {py39,py310,py311,py312,py313}-test,py313-{black,lint,flake8,mypy}
 
 [gh-actions]
 python =
-    3.8: py38
     3.9: py39
     3.10: py310
     3.11: py311
diff --git a/tests/webservice_test.py b/tests/webservice_test.py
index 813738f..c50e5fc 100644
--- a/tests/webservice_test.py
+++ b/tests/webservice_test.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 import asyncio
 import copy
 import ipaddress
-import json
 import sys
 from typing import cast, Dict
 import unittest