diff --git a/country.cabal b/country.cabal
--- a/country.cabal
+++ b/country.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 cabal-version: 2.2
 name: country
-version: 0.2.3
+version: 0.2.3.1
 synopsis: Country data type and functions
 description:
   The `country` library provides a data type for dealing with
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@
     , primitive >= 0.6.4 && <0.8
     , primitive-unlifted >= 0.1.3 && <1.0
     , scientific >=0.3 && <0.4
-    , text >= 1.2 && <1.3
+    , text >= 2.0 && <2.1
     , text-short >=0.1.3
     , unordered-containers >=0.2 && <0.3
   default-language: Haskell2010
diff --git a/src/Continent.hs b/src/Continent.hs
--- a/src/Continent.hs
+++ b/src/Continent.hs
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 import Control.Monad (forM_)
 import Control.Monad.ST (runST)
 import Country.Unexposed.Continents (continentAList)
-import Country.Unexposed.Util (mapTextArray,charToWord16,word16ToInt,timesTwo)
+import Country.Unexposed.Util (mapTextArray,charToWord8,word16ToInt,timesTwo)
 import Country.Unsafe (Country(Country))
 import Data.Char (toLower)
 import Data.Text (Text)
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@
   m <- TA.new (timesTwo numberOfContinents)
   forM_ continentNameDb $ \(n,_,(a1,a2)) -> do
     let ix = timesTwo (fromIntegral n)
-    TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord16 a1)
-    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 1) (charToWord16 a2)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord8 a1)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 1) (charToWord8 a2)
   return m
 {-# NOINLINE allAlphaUpper #-}
 
diff --git a/src/Continent/Unsafe.hs b/src/Continent/Unsafe.hs
--- a/src/Continent/Unsafe.hs
+++ b/src/Continent/Unsafe.hs
@@ -56,4 +56,3 @@
   show NorthAmerica = "NorthAmerica"
   show Oceania = "Oceania"
   show SouthAmerica = "SouthAmerica"
-  show (Continent n) = "Continent " ++ show n
diff --git a/src/Country.hs b/src/Country.hs
--- a/src/Country.hs
+++ b/src/Country.hs
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 import Country.Unexposed.Names (numberOfPossibleCodes,alphaTwoHashMap,alphaThreeHashMap,decodeMap,decodeMapUtf8,decodeNumeric,encodeEnglish,encodeEnglishShort)
 import Country.Unexposed.Trie (Trie,trieFromList,trieParser)
 import Country.Unexposed.TrieByte (TrieByte,trieByteFromList,trieByteParser)
-import Country.Unexposed.Util (mapTextArray,charToWord16,word16ToInt,timesTwo,timesThree)
+import Country.Unexposed.Util (mapTextArray,charToWord8,word16ToInt,timesTwo,timesThree)
 import Country.Unsafe (Country(..))
 import Data.Bytes.Types (Bytes(Bytes))
 import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
@@ -114,8 +114,8 @@
 --   countries. It strives to handle any source language. Open an
 --   issue on the issue tracker if there are names that are missing.
 decode :: Text -> Maybe Country
-decode (TI.Text (TA.Array arr) off16 len16) =
-  case (BytesHashMap.lookup (Bytes (ByteArray arr) (off16 * 2) (len16 * 2)) hashMapUtf16) of
+decode (TI.Text (TA.ByteArray arr) off8 len8) =
+  case (BytesHashMap.lookup (Bytes (ByteArray arr) off8 len8) hashMapUtf8) of
     Nothing -> Nothing
     Just w -> Just (Country (fromIntegral w))
 
@@ -164,8 +164,8 @@
   m <- TA.new (timesTwo numberOfCountries)
   forM_ countryNameQuads $ \(n,_,(a1,a2),_) -> do
     let ix = timesTwo (indexOfCountry (Country n))
-    TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord16 a1)
-    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 1) (charToWord16 a2)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord8 a1)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 1) (charToWord8 a2)
   return m
 {-# NOINLINE allAlphaTwoUpper #-}
 
@@ -174,9 +174,9 @@
   m <- TA.new (timesThree numberOfCountries)
   forM_ countryNameQuads $ \(n,_,_,(a1,a2,a3)) -> do
     let ix = timesThree (indexOfCountry (Country n))
-    TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord16 a1)
-    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 1) (charToWord16 a2)
-    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 2) (charToWord16 a3)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord8 a1)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 1) (charToWord8 a2)
+    TA.unsafeWrite m (ix + 2) (charToWord8 a3)
   return m
 {-# NOINLINE allAlphaThreeUpper #-}
 
diff --git a/src/Country/Unexposed/Names.hs b/src/Country/Unexposed/Names.hs
--- a/src/Country/Unexposed/Names.hs
+++ b/src/Country/Unexposed/Names.hs
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@
 import Data.Word
 
 import Control.DeepSeq (NFData)
-import Control.Exception (bracket)
 import Country.Unexposed.Alias (aliases)
 import Country.Unexposed.Encode.English (countryNameQuads)
 import Data.Bytes.Types (Bytes(Bytes))
@@ -42,34 +41,28 @@
 import Data.Primitive (Array,indexArray,newArray,unsafeFreezeArray,writeArray)
 import Data.Primitive (sizeOf)
 import Data.Primitive (writeByteArray,indexByteArray,unsafeFreezeByteArray,newByteArray)
-import Data.Primitive.Array (Array(..))
 import Data.Primitive.ByteArray (ByteArray(..))
 import Data.Primitive.Types (Prim)
 import Data.Text (Text)
-import Data.Text.Encoding (encodeUtf8)
+import Data.Text.Encoding (encodeUtf8,encodeUtf16BE)
 import Data.Text.Short (ShortText)
-import Data.Word (Word16)
 import Foreign.Storable (Storable)
 import GHC.Generics (Generic)
-import System.Entropy (openHandle,closeHandle)
-import System.IO.Unsafe (unsafePerformIO)
 
-import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Aeson as AE
 import qualified Data.Aeson.Types as AET
+import qualified Data.Bytes as Bytes
+import qualified Data.Bytes.HashMap.Word as BytesHashMap
+import qualified Data.ByteString as ByteString
 import qualified Data.HashMap.Strict as HM
 import qualified Data.List as L
 import qualified Data.Primitive.Unlifted.Array as PM
-import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Scientific as SCI
-import qualified GHC.Exts as Exts
-import qualified System.IO as IO
-import qualified Data.Bytes as Bytes
-import qualified Data.Bytes.HashMap.Word as BytesHashMap
-import qualified Data.Text.Internal as Text
+import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Array as Text
+import qualified Data.Text.Internal as Text
 import qualified Data.Text.Short as TS
-import qualified Data.ByteString as ByteString
+import qualified GHC.Exts as Exts
 
 -- | The name of a country given in English
 encodeEnglish :: Country -> Text
@@ -140,11 +133,10 @@
 hashMapUtf16 :: BytesHashMap.Map
 hashMapUtf16 = BytesHashMap.fromTrustedList
   ( map
-    (\(a,Text.Text (Text.Array arr) off16 len16) ->
-      (Bytes (ByteArray arr) (off16 * 2) (len16 * 2),fromIntegral a)
+    (\(a, str) ->
+      (Bytes.fromByteString $ encodeUtf16BE str, fromIntegral a)
     ) countryPairs
   )
-
 countryPairs :: [(Word16,Text)]
 {-# NOINLINE countryPairs #-}
 countryPairs =
@@ -212,9 +204,6 @@
 actualNumberOfCountries = length countryNameQuads
 {-# NOINLINE actualNumberOfCountries #-}
 
-
-codeToEnum :: Word16 -> Int
-codeToEnum w = indexByteArray countryCodeToSequentialMapping (word16ToInt w)
 
 -- todo: add support for encoding directly to bytestring.
 -- Also, add suport for ToJSONKey and FromJSONKey once everything
diff --git a/src/Country/Unexposed/Util.hs b/src/Country/Unexposed/Util.hs
--- a/src/Country/Unexposed/Util.hs
+++ b/src/Country/Unexposed/Util.hs
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 module Country.Unexposed.Util
   ( mapTextArray
-  , charToWord16
+  , charToWord8
   , word16ToChar
   , word16ToInt
   , timesTwo
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 import Data.Bits (unsafeShiftL,unsafeShiftR)
 import Data.Char (chr,ord)
-import Data.Word (Word16)
+import Data.Word (Word8,Word16)
 import GHC.Exts (sizeofByteArray#)
 import GHC.Int (Int(I#))
 
@@ -21,26 +21,30 @@
 
 
 mapTextArray :: (Char -> Char) -> TA.Array -> TA.Array
-mapTextArray f a@(TA.Array inner) = TA.run $ do
-  let len = half (I# (sizeofByteArray# inner))
+mapTextArray f a@(TA.ByteArray inner) = TA.run $ do
+  let len = I# (sizeofByteArray# inner)
   m <- TA.new len
-  TA.copyI m 0 a 0 len
+  TA.copyI len m 0 a 0
   let go !ix = if ix < len
         then do
-          TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord16 (f (word16ToChar (TA.unsafeIndex a ix))))
+          TA.unsafeWrite m ix (charToWord8 (f (word8ToChar (TA.unsafeIndex a ix))))
           go (ix + 1)
         else return ()
   go 0
   return m
 {-# INLINE mapTextArray #-}
 
+charToWord8 :: Char -> Word8
+charToWord8 = fromIntegral . ord
+{-# INLINE charToWord8 #-}
+
+word8ToChar :: Word8 -> Char
+word8ToChar = chr . fromIntegral
+{-# INLINE word8ToChar #-}
+
 word16ToChar :: Word16 -> Char
 word16ToChar = chr . fromIntegral
 {-# INLINE word16ToChar #-}
-
-charToWord16 :: Char -> Word16
-charToWord16 = fromIntegral . ord
-{-# INLINE charToWord16 #-}
 
 word16ToInt :: Word16 -> Int
 word16ToInt = fromIntegral