Adela Khanum called Princess of the Brave by the British, was a famous and cultured chief of the Jaff tribe, one of the biggest Kurdish tribes. She married Osman Pasha, a chief of the Kurdish Jaff people which principal city is Halabja. Because of his position Adela’s husband was frequently absent from Halabja. Adela exercised power in his stead and was given the title khanum. She is credited with the establishment of a marketplace, a prison, and courts of law, over which she herself presided. By World War I, when Adela was in her late 60s and early 70s, she had enriched Halabja’s status as a Kurdish cultural center through her role as a patron of the arts. The British, impressed by her accomplishments and reportedly grateful for assistance in saving the lives of British soldiers, gave her the title Khan Bahadur meaning “ruler of the brave.”