The present-day "villages" or "quarters" of Phnom Penh emerged in the late 19th century. In 1867 King Norodom assigned large pieces of land in Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese Catholic community in recognition of their protection of his father, King Ang Duong, during the Vietnamese-Cambodian conflicts twenty years earlier. Not all residents were Catholic, and pagodas were built here as well as churches, including the Phnom Penh Cathedral. This area, the Russey Keo district, became the main residential area.