Senja is the second largest island in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 (not counting Svalbard

Svalbard

Svalbard is an archipelago in the Arctic, constituting the northernmost part of Norway. It is located north of mainland Europe, midway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The group of islands range from 74° to 81° north latitude , and from 10° to 35° east longitude. Spitsbergen is the...

). It is located along the Troms

Troms

or Romsa is a county in North Norway, bordering Finnmark to the northeast and Nordland in the southwest. To the south is Norrbotten Län in Sweden and further southeast is a shorter border with Lapland Province in Finland. To the west is the Norwegian Sea...

 county coastline with Finnsnes

Finnsnes

is a small town located in the municipality of Lenvik on the mainland near the island of Senja, in Troms county, Norway. The population is 4,185. The municipality is well provided with kindergartens and a decentralized school system on both primary and secondary level...

 as the closest town. Senja is connected to the mainland by the Gisund Bridge

Gisund Bridge

Gisund Bridge is a cantilever road bridge that crosses Gisundet from Finnsnes on the mainland to Silsand on Senja in Troms county in Norway. The bridge is 1147 metres long, the main span is 143 metres, and the maximum clearance to the sea is 41 metres...

. The municipalities located on Senja are Lenvik

Lenvik

Lenvik is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality is partly situated on the mainland, partly on the island of Senja. The administrative center is the town of Finnsnes, where the Gisund Bridge connects Senja to the mainland by road. Other settlements include Aglapsvik, Gibostad,...

 (part of which is on the mainland), Berg

Berg, Norway

Berg is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skaland. The municipality faces the Atlantic Ocean on the west side of the island of Senja. The largest urban area in Berg is the village of Senjahopen...

, Torsken

Torsken

Torsken is a municipality on the western coast of Senja island in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Gryllefjord. The church of Torsken dates back to the 18th century...

, and Tranøy

Tranøy

Tranøy is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality is situated on the southern coast of the island Senja. The municipal centre is the village of Vangsvik in the east. Stonglandseidet and Å in the west are other population centers. The now abandoned island of Tranøya, with its 18th...

. Senja had 7782 inhabitants as of 1 January 2008.

Senja is mentioned in David Armine Howarth

David Armine Howarth

David Howarth was a British historian and author. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he was a radio war correspondent for the BBC at the start of World War II. Howarth joined the Navy after the fall of France...

's World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 novel We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance. It has a namesake island in the MMORPG

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....

 Tibia

Tibia (computer game)

Tibia is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game created by CipSoft GmbH. It is one of the oldest MMORPGs and was considered most noteworthy in its early years; however, with the development of MMORPGs its popularity has grown much slower than other gaming communities...

.

The name

The Norse form of the name must also have been *Senja. The meaning of the name is unknown, but it might be related to the verb sundra 'tear, split apart': The west coast of the island is torn and split by numerous small fjords.

Geography

The north and western coasts of Senja are facing the open sea. Here, steep and rugged mountains rises straight from the sea, with some fishing villages (like Gryllefjord

Gryllefjord

Gryllefjord is a fishing village and also the administrative centre of Torsken municipality, on the island of Senja, in Troms county, Norway. Its population is 378....

, Husøy

Husøy, Senja

Husøy is an island in the Øyfjorden off the northwest coast of Senja in the municipality of Lenvik in Troms county, Norway, about southwest of the city of Tromsø. The island's population is 232. The village of Fjordgård is across the fjord on the island of Senja...

) wherever there is some lowland. The eastern and southern parts of the island are milder, with rounder mountains, forests, rivers and agriculture land.

Attractions

Senja is often referred to as "Norway in miniature", as the island's diverse scenery reflects almost the entire span of Norwegian nature. Senja is well known domestically for its beautiful scenery, and is marketed as a tourist attraction.

Among the sights of the island are Ånderdalen National Park

Ånderdalen National Park

Ånderdalen National Park lies in Torsken and Tranøy municipalities in Troms county, Norway. The park was established on 6 February 1970 by royal decree. It was enlarged in 2004, and is now...

 with coastal pine

Scots Pine

Pinus sylvestris, commonly known as the Scots Pine, is a species of pine native to Europe and Asia, ranging from Scotland, Ireland and Portugal in the west, east to eastern Siberia, south to the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as well inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia...

 forests and mountains, traditional fishing communities, and the "Troll of Senja" --the world's largest troll

Troll

A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...

. The southernmost municipality Tranøy

Tranøy

Tranøy is a municipality in Troms county, Norway. The municipality is situated on the southern coast of the island Senja. The municipal centre is the village of Vangsvik in the east. Stonglandseidet and Å in the west are other population centers. The now abandoned island of Tranøya, with its 18th...

 also has several small museums documenting local history, among these the Halibut Museum ("Kveitmuseet") in Skrolsvik.