We define the spectrum of a tensor triangulated category $K$ as the set of so-called prime ideals, endowed with a suitable topology. In this very generality, the spectrum is the universal space in which one can define supports for objects of $K$. This construction is functorial with respect to all tensor triangulated functors. Several elementary properties of schemes hold for such spaces, e.g. the existence of generic points and some quasi-compactness. Locally trivial morphisms are proved to be nilpotent. We establish in complete generality a classification of thick tensor-ideal subcategories in terms of arbitrary unions of closed subsets with quasi-compact complements (Thomason's theorem for schemes, mutatis mutandis). We also equip this spectrum with a sheaf of rings, turning it into a locally ringed space. We compute examples and show that our spectrum unifies the schemes of algebraic geometry and the support varieties of modular representation theory.

17 pages, short section on structure sheaves added