I started watching pretty much when it was first aired in America. I remember it was only on once a week on the WB on Sunday mornings, and I would have to tape it because it was on during church! I don't think it was even called "The WB" back then. They would rerun the Saiyan saga over and over again--it was great! Still the best part of DB/Z/GT....
I believe that it was in 2000, when it first aired here in The Netherlands.
I had some merchandise of it before 2000, but never had the chance to see an episode untill then.
So, I did know what Dragonball was before I actually saw it on TV.
It was pretty much the first anime that I ever really got into watching and also the one that sparked cel collecting for me. To the best of my memory I started watching it sometime in 2001. They were playing the Freeza saga on cartoon network
I watched DB and later DBZ in the early '90s in France when it was already a major hit over there, long before most of America and the rest of Europe had ever heard of it. I guess I'm lucky my grandparents live in France cause that country was anime heaven back in those days.
Oddly enough I bought my first two Z cels in 1999 (from some anime video mail order company that were handed down a bunch of cels from some company in LA) but I don't remember watching it until Febuary 2000.