or (also: ; ) is a fjord in Troms county, Norway. The long fjord runs through the municipalities of Balsfjord, MÃÂ¥lselv, Senja, and Tromsø. The fjord runs southeast between the islands of Senja and Kvaløya and further into the mainland along the border between Balsfjord and Senja municipalities.
The fjord stretches from Hekkingen Lighthouse off the coast of the island of Senja to the village of Nordfjordbotn. In the inner part of the fjord, it branches out into four smaller fjords: Nordfjorden, Aursfjorden, MÃÂ¥lselvfjorden, and Rossfjorden. The MÃÂ¥lselva river feeds into the MÃÂ¥lselvfjorden. There are several larger villages along the coast of the fjord, including Mortenhals, Mestervik, and Rossfjordstraumen.
The name Malangen comes from the old name of the fjord (). The first element is which comes from the Old High German word which means "bag" or "leather bag" which may refer to the baggy shape of the fjord. The same word mál is probably also the origin of the name of the MÃÂ¥lselva, the big river that enters the fjord from the MÃÂ¥lselvdalen and Bardudalen valleys (the neighboring MÃÂ¥lselv Municipality has a similar etymology). The last element of the name is which means "inlet" or "narrow fjord".
Historically, the fjord along with the area around it has had a historical importance as the northern boundary for Norwegian settlement during the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, King Haakon IV of Norway gave some people from Bjarmaland some land around the Malangen fjord on which to live. From 1871 until 1964, the area surrounding much of the fjord was part of Malangen Municipality, a municipality that was named after the fjord.