Since its mid-20th century inception, Mauritanian urban development has been inextricably related to its Saharan location. This paper highlights three aspects of the relationship between the Sahara Desert, the urban development process in Mauritania, and social relations and structures in the country. The first is the political compromise represented by the desert environment in which the urban development process in Mauritania was initiated. To the architects of Mauritanian independence, Nouakchott’s location could be presented as neutral in the face of competing northern and southern secessionist claims. This is the political compromise underlying what remains today the Sahara’s only capital city. The second aspect concerns the role of this desert environment in reproducing the social relations and structures that have accompanied postcolonial state development in the country. This is illustrated through a discussion of labour exploitation experienced by racialised migrant workers on remote desert construction sites that are far removed of Mauritania’s urban centres. Lastly, the paper discusses how these migrant workers, often located on the bottom rungs of the Mauritanian social hierarchy, make innovative use of this desert environment to navigate and make sense of their circumstances. Collectively, these three parts of the Mauritania/Sahara relationship point to how the desert can be viewed as an archive of social relations and urban development.